Friends & Mothers

“Never again will you walk past a group of moms having coffee and cake without dying to know what’s going on beneath the surface.” —TheSydney Morning Herald

Five women, all of them mothers, meet regularly for tea and cake. Their lives are consumed by children, school drop-offs, and casual conversations; so their respite at the Vista Cafe is a welcome retreat.

Until the day that Evelyn’s baby disappears.

Suffering severe postpartum depression, Evelyn is now in a psychiatric hospital refusing to utter a word—not even any information regarding the whereabouts of her newborn daughter, Amy—leaving her remaining four friends at a loss. In her absence, they begin to piece together Evelyn’s life, as a mother and as a woman, and start to take a look at their own lives. What ensues is each woman’s uncovering of her own lapsed desires—those dreams and wants that were slowly sidelined or put off for a later date as husband, marriage, and child-rearing became full-time occupations.

In this darkly humorous novel, guilty secrets are uncovered as the suspense builds during the desperate search for Evelyn’s missing baby. A vivid, honest portrayal of motherhood, Friends & Mothers is a story about the extraordinary strength of love.

International praise for Friends & Mothers

“A great read . . . [Limerick’s] depictions of the minutiae of raising children are lovingly realistic but not overly sentimental.” —The Age (Australia)

“Where Limerick’s writing shines is in her buoyant evocation of the sticky, constant, exasperating, and loving realm of small children.” —The Weekend Australian