Lee and Victoria weren’t the only ones to love Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall… Here is what the QBD crew thought:
From the author of ‘Skylarking’, Kate Mildenhall follows her debut novel with an electrifying thriller in ‘Mother Fault’. A dystopian fiction, detailing a new world order with an eerily realistic portrayal of a not too distant future. Equals parts warning and a serious reflection on the bubbling current affairs in our world today. Mildenhall tackles the big issues from environmental through to the political and socio-economical. Yet it is the journey in discovering inner strength and a mother’s defiance to keep her children safe that gives this novel its emotional pull. It’s an incredibly hard book to put down.
When Mim’s husband Ben disappears from the mine site at the Golden Arc in Indonesia, and the government is unable to find him (despite everyone being micro-chipped), readers are taken on a sobering trip from outback Australia to the high seas. ‘The Mother Fault’ is set against a harsh backdrop of societal restrictions which echoes Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale and an Orwellian portrayal of governing regimes. Many of the draconian practices that have developed over the years to help keep society safe aren’t particularly original but what sets this novel apart is a unique narrative with a focus on Motherhood and the impact on families.
The flashbacks peppered throughout only strengthen a connection with the main character and her mission to take matters into her own hands and find her missing husband. Towering over the somberness of the Department are gated institutes like ‘BestLife’, a place for people to find their feet. Helping to blend an uneasy feeling of distrust and helplessness, we discover Mim’s brother was admitted for drug addiction and like many who entered has never been seen again. When Mim is faced with placing her children Essie and Sam into the facility, it catapults Kate Mildenhall’s novel into a new territory where readers are championing the unlikely heroine. A powerful and in parts terrifying read that will have readers holding their breath to the very last page, which leaves space for a possible sequel.
