Mothers Don't

Katixa Agirre

From Shelf: Wish list

A mother kills her twins. Another woman, the narrator, is about to give birth. She is a writer and she knows the woman who killed the children. She takes a leave of absence to write and investigate the hidden truth behind the crime. Halfway between a thriller & a journalistic chronicle. A novel about the primal guilt that comes with being a mother.

A mother kills her twins. Another woman, the narrator, is about to give birth. She is a writer and realises that she knows the woman who killed the children. An obsession is triggered. She takes a leave of absence, not to nurture her baby, but to write. To investigate the hidden truth behind the crime. This book is halfway between a thriller and a journalistic chronicle. A novel about the primal guilt that comes with being a mother. Katixa Agirre also reflects on the relationship between motherhood and creativity, in dialogue with other female writers such as Sylvia Plath and Doris Lessing. The result is an unprecedented and profoundly disturbing book, in which no real answers are offered but more contradictions emerge.