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Title details for The Mother Act by Heidi Reimer - Available

The Mother Act

by Heidi Reimer
ebook
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1 of 1 copy available
"Propulsive and affecting.... This is worthy of a standing ovation." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Set against the sparkling backdrop of the theater world, this propulsive debut follows the relationship between an actress who refuses to abandon her career and the daughter she chooses to abandon instead.
Sadie Jones, a larger-than-life actress and controversial feminist, never wanted to be a mother. No one feels this more deeply than Jude, the daughter Sadie left behind. While Jude spent her childhood touring with her father’s Shakespearian theater company, desperate for validation from the mother she barely knew, Sadie catapulted to fame on the wings of The Mother Act—a scathing one-woman show about motherhood.
Two decades later, Jude is a talented actress in her own right, and her fraught relationship with Sadie has come to a scandalous head. On a December evening in New York City, at the packed premiere of Sadie’s latest play, the two come face-to-face and the intertwined stories of their lives unfold—colorfully and dramatically. What emerges is a picture of two very different women navigating the complicated worlds of career, love, and family, all while grappling with the essential question: can they ever really understand each other?
Compelling, insightful, and cleverly conveyed as a play in six acts, The Mother Act is a stylish page-turner that looks at what it means to be a devoted mother and a devoted artist—and whether it is possible to be both.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 30, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781039002203

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781039002203
      • File size: 1922 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 1, 2024
      Reimer debuts with a propulsive and affecting mother-daughter story set in New York City’s theater world. Actor Sadie Jones ascends to stardom in the 1980s’ guerrilla feminist theater scene. When she meets British Shakespearean actor Damian Linnen during his visit to one of her rehearsals, the two are instantly attracted to each other. Though Damian is engaged, it becomes clear that the question is not whether he will leave his fiancée for Sadie, but when. The narrative then shifts back and forth from the ’80s to the present, as Damian and Sadie’s daughter, Jude, comes into her own as an actor. It soon emerges that she grew up barely knowing Sadie, and mostly spent her youth traveling with Damian for his career. Reimer gradually doles out the details of Damian and Sadie’s relationship, as well as the conservative Christian background Sadie turned her back on as a young woman, prompting her to vow never to have children. Questions about what made Sadie have a child after all, and why Jude grew up apart from her, drive the narrative as Sadie performs a one-woman play called The Mother Act and prepares to reunite with her daughter for Jude’s upcoming wedding. Reimer’s insights on art, feminism, and motherhood add to the intrigue. This is worthy of a standing ovation. Agent: Arielle Datz, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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