‘The Mothers’ by Brit Bennett

All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around in our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.

‘The Mothers’ by Brit Bennett is set in Oceanside, California. The story centers on three characters: Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke.

Nadia is seventeen and her mother has died. Suicide. She lives with her father and is struggling with her grief. When she meets Luke, who is a few years older and the pastor’s son, they start dating.

Aubrey moved to Oceanside a few years ago. She spends a lot of time at church and helps wherever she can. When she and Nadia start talking, a deep friendship develops.

A few years later, their pasts bring them together in a way that hurts many people.

Plus: there are queer side characters!

CW: suicide, abortion, child sexual abuse, toxic religiosity