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The Abandoners

Of Mothers and Monsters

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The Abandoners

Written by: Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, Lizzie Davis - translator
Free with 30-day trial

₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹1,257.30

Buy Now for ₹1,257.30

‘The best kind of book: the one you didn’t know you were craving until it appeared . . . self-interrogative, intricately perceptive. I absolutely inhaled it’ JIA TOLENTINO

‘A very richly interesting exploration of a complex subject. Begoña Gómez Urzaiz tells the stories with such intelligence and wit and generosity’ TESSA HADLEY

‘Fascinating … I suspect there are many, many other mothers who are going to inhale The Abandoners’ OBSERVER

When it comes to children: a man leaves, a woman abandons

Journalist Begoña Gómez Urzaiz is fascinated by women who left their children behind to pursue their artistic lives. Women like Ingrid Bergman, Muriel Spark, Doris Lessing and Joni Mitchell.

This book captures those extraordinary stories, along with the realities of women who have no choice but to separate from their families, and the everyday guilt of mothers who dream quietly of freedom.

This is a book about motherhood, selfhood, ambition and creativity. Above all, it captures what our judgement of those women who ‘abandon’ tells us about our judgement of all women.

‘The best book I've read on the implications of motherhood and its opposites after Sheila Heti's Motherhood’ CLAUDIA DURASTANTI

©2024 Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, Lizzie Davis (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Art & Literature Authors Dysfunctional Families Motherhood Parenting Relationships Women
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Critic Reviews

‘Fascinating … I suspect there are many, many other mothers who are going to inhale The Abandoners. I know I did … So beautifully translated from Spanish by Lizzie Davis that you forget it’s translation, this is rich, vivid writing about the eternal push and pull of motherhood … Few things I have read lately convey so exactly the sense of loving your children so much you can barely breathe, yet sometimes craving escape’ Gaby Hinscliff, Observer
'Compelling' Guardian
'The stories are fascinating … intriguing … Truly moving' The Times
'One of the liveliest, sharpest and funniest books in an increasingly crowded field … daring essays that blend cultural criticism, memoir and a smattering of reporting … a delight for many reasons' Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post
'Insightful … The book’s job isn’t to convince readers to forgive these women but to offer, with immersive storytelling, a look into the complicated nature of motherhood, the desire to break free from precarious relationships, and the paradoxes of modern feminism’ OPRAH DAILY
‘The best kind of book: the one you didn’t know you were craving until it appeared … self-interrogative, intricately perceptive. I absolutely inhaled it’ JIA TOLENTINO, author of TRICK MIRROR
‘A very richly interesting exploration of a complex subject. Begoña Gómez Urzaiz tells the stories of all these different women with such intelligence and wit and generosity’ TESSA HADLEY, author of THE PAST
'Perceptive…daring' LITERARY REVIEW
‘The best book I've read on the implications of motherhood and its opposites after Sheila Heti's Motherhood’ CLAUDIA DURASTANTI, author of STRANGERS I KNOW
'Anyone who has ever judged a mother or been judged for being one will benefit from reading this book … This generous and rigorous work seamlessly connects real and fictional women, while offering an expansive view of a sensitive topic' MICHELE FILGATE, author of WHAT MY MOTHER AND I DON'T TALK ABOUT
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