The Stats

Title: The School for Good Mothers

Author: Jessamine Chan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (4 Jan, 2022)

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction

Trigger Warnings: Childhood Trauma, Child Abuse, Mental/Emotional Manipulation, Self-Harm, Suicide

Read if you like: The Handmaid’s Tail, Little Fires Everywhere, Red Clocks, Perfect Little World, Klara and the Sun

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Thank you to Jessamine Chan, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for providing me with an electrical Review Copy of The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, set to publish THIS WEEK January 4th, 2022. All opinions mentioned in this review are my own.

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The Review

Postpartum depression can be tough enough on a mother; now imagine having postpartum depression, a divorce, and having your adulterous ex-husband moving in with his mistress, who now thinks she has a larger say in how your child is parented. This is what Frida’s life has become. Frida, a first generation child of Chinese Immigrant parents, recently moved to Philadelphia for her white husband, only to have her husband leave her for his mistress not long after she became pregnant with their first child. Frida is now trapped in a city she never wanted to live in – far from her family and friends – in order maintain her court-appointed custody agreement. Ultimately, this leads Frida to having one very bad day – leaving her infant daughter alone for less than two hours while she ran to the office to gather the files she forgot to bring home the day before.

Child Protective Services are called. Harriett, her daughter, is placed in the custody of her father and Susanna – his mistress turned girlfriend, and psychological evaluations and supervised visits become Frida’s life until her trial date. In the end, the Judge determines that Frida is a Bad Mother but gives her the choice. Frida can either lose custody, or complete a new government funded training programs for bad mothers for a chance to regain custody rights. Frida chooses the later, requiring her to sign an NDA of this experimental program. Failure to maintain the NDA, or complete the program, resulted in being added to a registration list and loosing all future parental rights.

I have heard a few rumblings about this novel, and it was even listed on Audiobooks “Most Anticipated Audiobooks.” When I saw it was available on NetGalley, I crossed my fingers hoping I would be granted approval. I was slightly worried as Simon & Schuster is a larger publication; so when I was granted the ARC for The School for Good Mothers I was beyond excited.

The School for Good Mothers completely lived up to the hype. Jessamine Chan’s writing was absolute perfection. I am not a mother to humans (only dogs), but I could not help but feel a connection to Frida, and her pain, in this dystopian novel. Frida’s fear of having her half-Chinese daughter raised by white Millennials kept giving me Little Fires Everywhere vibes, a topic that I do believe needs to be discussed more when CPS begins placing Children of Colour in foster-care or their guardianships. While the “School” and how it functioned was eerily reminiscent of the “Handmaids” training program with a little of the experiment ran in Perfect Little Worlds. However, I think what really drew emotion from me was how Frida’s counselors, and teachers, constantly treated the AI Dolls horrendously; then would berate the mothers when the mothers would treat them as dolls instead of children. The hypocrisy of the entire program made me want to go on a rampage, much like the mothers in the program.

Overall, I give The School for Good Mothers a 5 out of 5 stars on both NetGalley and Goodreads. While I personally would have made a few changes to the novel for clarity purposes, I firmly believe Jessamine Chan completely conveyed the vision she wanted so that all would understand. The ending, was even better than I could have expected, and left me in tears. This novel was thought-provoking and gut wrenching: but should come with a few triggers warnings.

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan comes out next week!