Every Day Is Mother's Day

By: Hilary Mantel

Narrated by: Sandra Duncan

Evelyn and Muriel Axon, mother and daughter, lead a haunted existence. Objects of horror to their neighbours, they evade or terrorise any social worker who crosses their path. Inside their house, they pursue a covert persecution of each other, shrinking from the unseen occupants of their spare room. But change is in the air…

Every Day is Mother's Day is a merciless comedy of colliding lives: of sex, death, madness, adultery and the social services.

©1985 Hilary Mantel (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Strange…rather mad…extremely funny…she reminded me of the early Muriel Spark" ( Auberon Waugh)

"What a terrific book" ( Fay Weldon)

A harrowing but satisfying read.

Would you consider the audio edition of Every Day Is Mother's Day to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version of this book so I can't answer this question.

What other book might you compare Every Day Is Mother's Day to and why?

It reminded me of A Change of Climate in some ways. In both books a child is murdered. The deaths are the result of grotesque evil, both on the psychological level and the spiritual. Both books went to some very dark places that took some commitment on my part to get through.

What about Sandra Duncan’s performance did you like?

She was equally fine reading the poignant passages as well as the humorous ones. She made the characters come alive.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Includes a dinner party scene as exciting as The Red Wedding episode in Game of a Thrones!

Any additional comments?

A truly great first novel.