Title: All My Mother’s Lovers

Author: Ilana Masad’s

Type: Fiction

Published: 2020

Pages: 336

All My Mother’s Lovers, Ilana Masad’s debut novel, is an empathetic portrait of a difficult mother-daughter relationship intercut with grief, road trips and queer romance. The novel begins with 27-year-old Maggie Krause returning home after her mother’s sudden death.

Iris, dies, leaving behind her daughter, Maggie; her husband, Peter; her son, Ariel; and at least some of the titular lovers. Iris left each of these men a letter to be read in the event of her death. Maggie, appalled at the revelation of her mother’s secret life, takes it upon herself to hand-deliver them.

Maggie learns that her mother’s life was nothing like what Maggie thought it was. This remarkable portrait of a daughter’s opaque relationship with her mother reflects the strangeness and beauty of coming to see one’s parent fully as a human being.

Maggie’s relationship with Iris had always been strained, in part due to Iris’s inability to accept Maggie’s sexuality. The men Maggie meets challenge her to see Iris not only as her flawed mother, but also as a human being filled with her own complex emotions and desires.

Despite Iris’s misgivings, Maggie has found success in her life, both personally and professionally, though her confidence constantly wavers.

I really enjoyed this fresh debut from Ilana Masad. She told a unique, rich story of two women who loved each other, but let space invade their relationship. I loved that she took the time to really explore both women, and to fill the gap between them with revelations about Iris’s life. 

All My Mother’s Lovers will not be a book for everyone. It is not fast paced, but a slower, steady build. It is a book to savour as you gain each new piece of information, sinking deeper and deeper into the stories of Iris and Maggie. I look forward to reading more from Ilana Masad.

All My Mother’s Lovers is a unique meditation on the universality and particularity of family ties and grief, and a tender and biting portrait of sex, gender, and identity, challenging us to question the nature of fulfilling relationships.