Patrik Henry Bass of Essence Magazine checks out “The Mother” by Yvvette Edwards in NY1’s The Book Reader.
Four years ago, author Yvvette Edwards was long-listed for the prestigious Man Booker Prize for A Cupboard Full of Coats (Amistad), her debut novel. Although she didn’t win, the author gained an audience, who eagerly awaited her next offering.
With the recent release of The Mother (Amistad, $21.99), that wait is over.
This provocative story proves that Edwards’s time away was well spent. In a saga that could have been ripped from the headlines, the mother is Marcia Williams. Her world is shattered when Ryan, her sensitive 16-year-old son, is brutally murdered. Adding salt to her open wounds, she attends the trial of her son’s alleged murderer.
Edwards gently taps into the emotional well that we witness too often in newspapers, on cable news and in our social media feed. Marcia is emblematic of everyday women thrust into the media spotlight, having to endure one of the most painful events that could possibly happen. And nothing, nothing is private, with all of the world watching and judging.
Edwards provides a face, a voice and an emotional depth to women like Marcia. Day in and day out at the courthouse, she learns more about her son’s life and the troubled history of Tyson Manley, who is charged with stabbing Ryan. As the trial goes on, Marcia finds herself spiraling into despair. Her only sign of hope arrives in the form of Sweetie, Tyson’s terrified girlfriend. Can Sweetie help Marcia find closure, or is there never closure when a mother buries her child? Edwards delicately answers both questions in this tour de force that deserves recognition and as wide an audience as possible.