It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour to celebrate the #PaperbackPublication of The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall. Definitely a read you don't want to miss.
Kate Mildenhall is a writer who lives on the outskirts of Melbourne with her family. Her debut novel, Skylarking, was published in Australia by Black Inc. in 2016 and in the UK by Legend Press in 2017. Skylarking was longlisted for the Voss Literary Prize 2017 and the Indie Book Awards 2017. Kate has received residencies at Varuna, the Writers House and at Bundanon. With friend and author Katherine Collette, Kate co-hosts The First Time podcast, a podcast about the first time you publish a book.
Kate’s second novel, The Mother Fault, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2020 and Harper Collins in the UK in May 2021. Follow @katemildenhall, Visit katemildenhall.com
About the book
To keep her children safe, she must put their lives at risk … - In suburban Australia, Mim and her two children live as quietly as they can. Around them, a near-future world is descending into chaos: government officials have taken absolute control, but not everybody wants to obey the rules.
When Mim’s husband Ben mysteriously disappears, Mim realises that she and her children are in great danger. Together, they must set off on the journey of a lifetime to find Ben. The government are trying to track them down, but Mim will do anything to keep her family safe – even if it means risking all their lives. - Can the world ever return to normality, and their family to what it was?
Review
Ben is missing. It's a mistake, they have the wrong person right? How is Mim supposed to tell their young children that their father is missing. Suddenly his disappearance starts having very real consequences for the family he left behind, and Mim has to make a choice to either be quiet and let the system take over or fight for her family.
In this very realistic dystopian read it's easy to imagine a future just like this, and I believe that in itself is the power of the story. The fact the suggested scenarios are already part of mass fears and easily implemented going forward, is what makes this the kind of read you don't want to miss.
I can imagine quite a few readers shouting out - I told you so! And others rolling their eyes at the paranoia. The integral details surrounding the premise, the basis of the not too far in the future dystopian setting - they are grounded in the realms of possible future scenarios. The author cleverly plays on the fears induced by the last few years and combines it with conspiracy theories, political and economical climates, draws on the environmental impact or foreseeable consequences of said impact, and has created a cracking read.
Mildenhall has captured the slowly encroaching methods of the powers that be. The logical explanations of why certain Big Brother methods are necessary are a manipulation tool to convince everyone to come to heel, the long-term consequences of being a non-questioning sheeple are not only detrimental they are also dangerous.
I loved the amount of information that is thrown at the reader, but in such a subtle way that you blink and it's gone. How important each rule, regulation and nugget of information is, doesn't become clear straight away. It's a powerful modern futuristic plot - a very realistic one.
Buy The Mother Fault at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher : HarperCollins pub date 3 Mar. 2022. Buy at Amazon com.
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