About the The Mother Act (Hardcover Book)

Set against the sparkling backdrop of the theater world, this propulsive debut follows the complicated 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 depicting her maternal rage.

Two decades later, Jude is a talented actress in her own right, and her fraught relationship with Sadie has come to a head—bitterly and publicly. 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 unravel. With years of love, resentment, and misunderstanding laid bare, the questions loom: What are the costs of being a devoted mother and a devoted artist, and who gets to decide if the collateral damage is justified?

Compelling, insightful, and cleverly conveyed as a play in six acts, The Mother Act is equal parts stylish page-turner and provocative exploration of womanhood.