–Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self 'LIQUIDLY WRITTEN… A BOOK TO BOLT DOWN IN A SINGLE READ.' It is the kind of book that from its first page seduces you into knowing that the heartbreak coming will be worth it.' 'Brit Bennett’s The Mothers is a brilliant exploration of friendship, desire, inheritance, the love we seek, and the love we settle for. –Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Another Brooklyn I’m so excited to have this brilliant new voice in the world.' The Mothers is a stellar novel - moving, thoughtful. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever. In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a 'what if' can be more powerful than an experience itself. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly.

But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance-and the subsequent cover-up-will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year- old beauty. 'All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.' Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. A dazzling debut novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community-and the things that ultimately haunt us most.

Before you suffocate your own fool self