Comments (19)

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Mar 09, 2024FlipFlop2 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book in one sitting and I suggest you do too. It is a story so simple and yet so very profound. I consider it a great novel and I cannot wait to read more by Graham Swift.
Nov 17, 2023
There are no spoilers in this review affecting more than the novel’s first few pages. Mothering Sunday presents the aftermath of the Great War on two country families in Berkshire, England. It opens with a day in the life of housekeeper…
Jun 07, 2023PDBurt rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
This is hardly a romance filled with words cock, balls and cunt. Not for me; really it's about aristocracy and being disempowered with a few flowery words. I don't like books where the author talks about books and being an author.
Oct 29, 2022BARosen1112 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
In March of 1924 in England, a young woman, abandoned at birth on an orphanage step and now a maid for a wealthy family, remembers the last day of her affair with a wealthy scion of a neighboring estate who is soon to be married, on a day…
Aug 17, 2022PimaLib_ChristineR rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Have you ever read a book that caused you so much emotional turmoil you had to put it down and breathe for a moment before continuing? Mothering Sunday did that for me. On the surface, it's the simple story of Jane Fairchild, a girl in…
Mar 23, 2022Einer2 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I think melmccurdy nailed it with " One odd, quintessential British romance." I enjoyed it very much!
Aug 21, 2020maipenrai rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This well written novella is set in one day "mothering Sunday" a day on which servants are allowed time off to visit their mothers or family. We are initially presented the sexual liaison between a young maid from a different house and…
Nov 01, 2018ReaderWriterSTS rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I read this a second time to pick up on the subtle ways the author hints at the future events. I was intrigued by how small words dropped in just the right places set the tone for this book. Incredibly well-crafted - read once for the…
Sep 12, 2018baldma rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is our October 18 Book Club selection. It is a billed as a romance but from my perspective describes an ongoing sexual/physical relationship between a a lower class house maid and an aristocrat. It illuminates the relationship…
Sep 06, 2018sgcf rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This novella takes place in the course of a single pivotal day of lush loving as well as heartbreak, with backward looking exposition and omniscient narration projected into the future. To me, it feels like a short story Swift has padded…
Dec 30, 2017cokie28 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a quick read and a delightful book. It is a thoughtful accompaniment to the Pat Barker trilogy on World War I, revealing some of the aftereffects of that war on English culture.
Apr 01, 2017sandyc99 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Slow to get started, but took on a lovely hue as the character developed depth and nuance.
Dec 13, 2016laphampeak rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The story is written at the pace of a slow embrace. A close and silent, soul embracing relationship is the profound experience from which the writer bases the narrative. The main character, Jane Fairchild, tells her story from various…
Oct 12, 2016uncommonreader rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A novella about a woman whose life spanned the twentieth century. She recalls a day in 1924 and its impact on the rest of her life, from maid to writer. It is interesting that she is reading Conrad on this momentous day and that the…
jr3083
Sep 22, 2016jr3083 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This small novella by Graham Swift is an exemplar of the genre, written by a master. Swift takes a small image and spins it into something tight and intricate, but with threads that could lead into something larger. In this case, the…
Sep 18, 2016Candaceb108 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Hmmm, this book is like the first three chapters of an early 19th century novel. Not too much action, but lots of thoughts about it. Light, easy to read, not too many calories, lemon meringue made with Sweet & Lo.
Aug 25, 2016melmccurdy rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
One Sunday. One tryst. One tragedy. One aged writer's flashback. One odd, quintessential British romance. Not sure I've read anything quite like this.
Jul 28, 2016ownedbydoxies rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Could not put this one down. Luckily it isn't very long, but it is mesmerizing: a young maid in 1924, her affair with a son of a local landowning family, the hierarchy of families in Britain at the time, and how her life took a tail-spin…
Jul 04, 2016EmilyEm rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
On Mothering Sunday in 1924—a March day that seems like June—Jane Fairchild gets a phone call. The rest of her day fills this short volume. Graham Swift’s writing is luminous and his storytelling so wonderful! A must read.