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The school for good mothers: a novel

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Author:
Chan, Jessamine
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Pub. Date:
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Language:
English
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Description
Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize
Selected as One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022!

In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eye on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgement, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

An “intense” (Oprah Daily), “captivating” (Today) page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.
Also in This Series
More Like This
Subjects
Subjects
Audiobooks
Chinese American women
Chinese American women -- Fiction
Dystopian fiction
Fiction
Large print books
Literature
Motherhood
Motherhood -- Fiction
Science fiction
Single mothers
Single mothers -- Fiction
More Details
Contributors:
Ho, Catherine,narrator
ISBN:
9781982156138
9781797135465
9781797135472
9798200912933
9781982156145
9781797135458
9781982156121
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work IDd908a191-c675-31b3-81d8-d3a6a50227e0
Grouping Titleschool for good mothers
Grouping Authorjessamine chan
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2023-03-22 04:40:16AM
Last Indexed2023-03-22 05:58:14AM

Solr Fields

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Hurley Public Library
Land O' Lakes Public Library
Madeline Island Public Library
Presque Isle Public Library
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Shell Lake Public Library
Spooner Public Library
Superior Main Library
Washburn Public Library
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Ashland Adult Fiction
Boulder Junction Adult Fiction
Hayward Adult And Young Adult Fiction
Hurley Adult Fiction
Land O Lakes Adult Fiction
Madeline Island Adult Fiction
Online OverDrive Collection
Presque Isle Adult Fiction
Presque Isle Fiction Audiobooks
Sayner Adult Fiction
Shell Lake Fiction Audiobooks
Spooner Adult Fiction
Superior Adult Fiction
Superior Large Print Fiction
Washburn Adult Fiction
display_description
"Set in near-future America, The School for Good Mothers introduces readers to a government-run reform program where bad mothers are retrained using robot doll children with artificial intelligence. Protagonist Frida Liu, a 39-year-old Chinese-American single mother in Philadelphia, loses custody of her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet, after she leaves Harriet home alone for two hours on one very bad day. To regain custody, Frida must spend a year at a newly-created institution, where she practices parenting with bad mothers from all over the county. There, she learns to love an uncannily life-like toddler girl doll in order to demonstrate her maternal instincts and prove to her family court judge that she deserves a second chance. Frida is an outsider in every way: better educated, more affluent, and the only Asian. The mothers, whose transgressions range from benign to horrific, are under constant surveillance. If they don't pass all the school's tests, their parental rights will be terminated. Inspired by dystopian classics such as 1984, Never Let Me Go, and The Handmaid's Tale, the novel eviscerates the dominant American parenting culture, while highlighting the tragedy of state-sponsored family separation. Is there one right way to mother? Can a bad mother ever be redeemed? With warmth, heart, and dark humor, the novel tells a timeless story of a mother fighting to win back her child, and her struggle to hold onto her integrity while being indoctrinated"--Provided by publisher.
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Audio Books
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9781797135472
9781982156121
9781982156138
9781982156145
9798200912933
itype_catalog
AUDIOBOOK ON CD UNABRIDGED
BOOK - HARDCOVER
LARGE PRINT BOOK
last_indexed
2023-03-22T10:58:14.291Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
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owning_library_catalog
Ashland Vaughn Public Library
Ashland Vaughn Public Library Online
Bayfield Library Online
Boulder Junction Library
Boulder Junction Library Online
Cable Forest Lodge Library Online
Drummond Public Library Online
Eagle River Olson Library Online
Grantsburg Public Library Online
Hayward Weiss Community Library
Hayward Weiss Community Library Online
Hurley Public Library
Hurley Public Library Online
Iron River Library Online
LCO College Library Online
Lac du Flambeau Public Library Online
Lake Nebagamon Branch Library Online
Land O Lakes Public Library
Land O Lakes Public Library Online
Land O' Lakes Public Library
Land O' Lakes Public Library Online
Madeline Island Public Library
Madeline Island Public Library Online
Manitowish Waters Koller Library Online
Mellen Legion Memorial Library Online
Mercer Public Library Online
NWLS Main Offices Online
Northern Waters Library Network Online
Northern Waters Library Service Online
Phelps Public Library Online
Phelps School Library Online
Presque Isle Public Library
Presque Isle Public Library Online
Red Cliff Ginanda Gikendaasomin Library Online
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Sayner Plum Lake Library Online
Shell Lake Public Library
Shell Lake Public Library Online
Sherman & Ruth Weiss Community Library - Hayward
Sherman & Ruth Weiss Community Library - Hayward Online
Solon Springs Branch Library Online
Spooner Public Library
Spooner Public Library Online
Superior Main Library
Superior Main Library Online
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Superior Public Library Online
Washburn Public Library
Washburn Public Library Online
Webster Public Library Online
Winchester Public Library Online
Winter Public Library Online
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Boulder Junction Library
Hayward Weiss Community Library
Hurley Public Library
Land O' Lakes Public Library
Madeline Island Public Library
Online OverDrive Collection
Presque Isle Public Library
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Shell Lake Public Library
Spooner Public Library
Superior Main Library
Washburn Public Library
primary_isbn
9781982156138
publishDate
2022
publisher
Blackstone Publishing
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster Audio
Simon & Schuster, Inc
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Audiobooks
Chinese American women -- Fiction
Dystopian fiction
Large print books
Motherhood -- Fiction
Science fiction
Single mothers -- Fiction
title_display
The school for good mothers : a novel
title_full
The School for Good Mothers: a Novel
The school for good mothers : a novel / Jessamine Chan
title_short
The school for good mothers
title_sub
a novel
topic_facet
Chinese American women
Fiction
Literature
Motherhood
Single mothers

Solr Details Tables

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