A bittersweet short story about mothers, daughters, and the witches' brew of love-and control-that binds them, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments.
Life is hard enough for a teenage girl in 1950s suburbia without having a mother who may-or may not-be a witch. A single mother at that. Sure, she fits in with her starched dresses, string of pearls, and floral aprons. Then there are the hushed and mystical consultations with neighbourhood women in distress. The unsavoury, mysterious plants in the flower beds. The divined warning to steer clear of a boyfriend whose fate is certainly doomed. But as the daughter of this bewitching homemaker comes of age and her mother's claims become more and more outlandish, she begins to question everything she once took for granted.
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'You're so evil,' I said to my mother.
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(Amazon Original Stories, 1 April 2022, 45 pages, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #PrimeReading)
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Atwood is one of my favourite writers so I leapt at the chance to read this story. I thought the title was great. The blurb states the story is set in the 19050's but this wasn't clear from the story itself and it could have been set anywhere. I really enjoyed My Evil Mother which focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter and how their conception of each other can be vastly different from the truth.
