The Mother Is Restless and She Doesn't Know Why

‘A virtuoso accomplishment. Parker segues effortlessly between the abstract and the personal, the wise and the frivolous. I rejoiced in such braininess, originality, and wit.’ – Anna Goldsworthy, author of Piano Lessons‘Parker has an uncanny gift for writing that embodies the radical fragmentation of our chaotic present. Through flights of reading and social observation, she suggests how the self can cohere despite outside forces demanding our constant attention. By turns hilarious, melancholic, and searching, Parker’s debut marks the arrival of a writer of serious talent, intelligence, and compassion.’ – Patrick Flanery, author of The Ginger Child‘The Mother Is Restless and She Doesn’t Know Why is a delight of a book – poetic in its sensibility yet with a keen eye for the absurd, and acutely intelligent while also being unafraid of silliness. It is, at its heart, a book about longing and about freedom – and how to reconcile these with the small joys of the everyday, as well as the duties and compromises inherent in love and family life. I never expected to tear through a book about reading Nietzsche – but tear through it I did.’ – Fiona Wright, author of Small Acts of Disappearance‘remarkable and thoroughly engaging’ –

Gemma Parker is a poet and essayist, teaching creative non-fiction at Adelaide University. She has lived, worked and studied in Osaka, Paris, London and Hanoi.