Mother Mary Comes to Me | Arundhati Roy

Mother Mary Comes to Me

Accolades & Praise

• Award Recognition: Finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
• Anticipated Release: A highly anticipated first work of memoir from the Booker Prize-winning author.

Extended Synopsis

Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, is a soaring account, both intimate and inspirational, of how the author became the person and the writer she is. Shaped by circumstance, but above all by her complex relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother she describes as "my shelter and my storm."

"Heart-smashed" by her mother Mary’s death in September 2022 yet puzzled and "more than a little ashamed" by the intensity of her response, Roy began to write to make sense of her feelings about the mother she ran from at age eighteen. She embarked on this journey "not because I didn’t love her, but in order to be able to continue to love her." And so begins this astonishing, sometimes disturbing, and surprisingly funny memoir of the author’s journey from her childhood in Kerala, India, where her single mother founded a school, to the writing of her prizewinning novels and essays.

With the scale, sweep, and depth of her novels, and the passion, political clarity, and warmth of her essays, this book is an ode to freedom and a tribute to thorny love and savage grace.

About the Author

Arundhati Roy is the legendary, Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed novels The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. She is also a prolific essayist and prominent political activist.

Reader Targeting

• Readers of literary memoirs and autobiographies.
• Fans of Arundhati Roy's acclaimed fiction and political essays.
• Those interested in complex family dynamics, mother-daughter relationships, and Indian history and culture.

Bibliographic & Physical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Mother Mary Comes to Me about?
It is a raw and deeply moving memoir by Arundhati Roy tracing her complex, stormy, and fierce relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, who was a pioneering educator in Kerala, India.

Who is the author?
The book is written by Arundhati Roy, the legendary and acclaimed author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things.

What themes are explored in the book?
The memoir explores themes of family legacy, defiance, complex mother-daughter bonds, abandonment wounds, and the path to personal and creative freedom.

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