Mother's Day

Copyright © 2023 Abigail BurdessThe right of Abigail Burdess to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.First published as an Ebook in Great BritainBy Wildfire, an imprint of Headline Publishing Group in 2023All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British LibraryCover design by Patrick InsoleCover images © George Mayer/Marian Fil, both ShutterstockeISBN: 978 1 4722 9553 8HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUPAn Hachette UK CompanyCarmelite House50 Victoria EmbankmentLondon EC4Y 0DZwww.headline.co.ukwww.hachette.co.uk ContentsCoverTitle PageCopyright PageAbout Abigail BurdessPraiseAlso by [author]About the BookDedicationAcknowledgmentsAfter BirthFirst Trimester1 Conception2 Five Weeks Gone3 Six Weeks Gone4 Eight Weeks Gone5 Nine Weeks Gone6 Eleven Weeks GoneSecond Trimester7 Thirteen Weeks Gone8 Sixteen Weeks Gone9 Twenty Weeks Gone10 Twenty-One Weeks Gone11 Twenty-Six Weeks GoneThird Trimester12 Thirty-Five Weeks Gone13 Thirty-Eight Weeks Gone14 Mother’s Day15 BIRTH16 After Birth17 New-born18 One Year OldEpilogue About the AuthorAbigail Burdess has written for and acted in various comedy shows for the television, radio and stage. She also sometimes writes TV for kids, as well as plays and musicals. She lives in London with her husband, Robert Webb, and their two children. Mother’s Day is her first novel. Praise for Mother’s Day:‘Mother's Day is terrific. So dark, so twisted and one of the most batsh*t crazy characters you'll ever meet in Marlene.’ - Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange‘Superbly written and darkly funny, Mother's Day is an epic psychological thriller that revels in the visceral horror of family relationships. So brilliantly and horrifyingly executed I simply couldn't look away. Abigail Burdess is a refreshing and original writer - don't take your eyes off her.’ - Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code‘Mother's Day is so dark and so shockingly, fabulously funny. I absolutely adored it.’ - Daisy Buchanan, bestselling author of Insatiable‘Dark, brilliant, and completely and utterly compelling.’ - Jenny Colgan, author of Little Beach Street Bakery‘Fast and funny, dark and beautiful - I loved every page.’ - Robert Webb, author of How Not To Be a Boy‘A startlingly original, pitch dark page-turner’ - Claire McGowan, bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife‘Deliciously dark, dripping in malice and drenched with razor sharp wit. Burdess is a writer to be watched - and feared.’ - John Marrs, bestselling author of What Lies Between Us and The Minders‘A twisted, gruesome and diabolically funny exploration of motherhood that I lapped up like a feral cat. Dark, weird and brilliant, Mother's Day will haunt you - particularly Marlene, a jaw-dropping creation, the mother of malign mothers.’ - Beth Morrey, bestselling author of Saving Missy‘A brilliant debut with all the twists and turns of Du Maurier and a stunning ending that leaves you breathless. Astonishingly good.’ - Robert Thorogood, bestselling author of The Marlow Murder Club‘A fresh and complex story about the many layers of motherhood that twists and turns until you really can't imagine what might happen next. Startling and instantly intriguing.’ - Katy Brand, comedian and author of Practically Perfect‘Mother's Day is completely gripping and quite terrifying, an addictive story about motherhood and madness. I was utterly blindsided by its twists and turns.’ - Lucy Porter‘Wickedly dark and devilishly funny, I loved this original take on the 'mother daughter' relationship. A must read for 2023!’ - Sophie Flynn, author of Keep Them Close‘Had me ‘The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.’Isaiah 34.14–15‘How dare you climb over into my garden like a thief and steal my rampion!’Rapunzel, The Brothers Grimm About the BookThe last thing Anna needs is a baby. Abandoned, adopted and living hand to mouth, she never dreamt of having a real family.But when she meets her birth mother, everything changes - because the same day, she learns she's going to be a mother too.Marlene is eccentric, generous with her considerable fortune and overjoyed to become a grandmother. Anna's living the dream. But is it her dream, or someone else's?Now she will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice for a real family - her future, her freedom, even her unborn child. For Susie Steiner – my brilliant friend AcknowledgementsThank you first to my mother, who taught me to write, because otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it.Thank you Nicholas Dunham for your invaluable legal advice, Gillian Mackay for your medical expertise, Caroline Blake for telling me about traditional Irish music, Joel Morris, Steven Adams and Matthew Hawn for intelligence on the music business, Paddy Screech and Ellie Crawford for talking me through the Mental Health Act, and the many women who opened your hearts to me about your abortions, adoptions and Jewish upbringing.Thanks to my first readers Annabel Friedlein, Jonathan Dryden-Taylor and Kate Russell-Smith. Thank you Molly Ker Hawn and Ivan Mulcahy for being so generous with your time and knowledge of publishing.Thank you Millie Hoskins, my unflappable agent, and all at United Agents, for taking a chance on me. And likewise, thanks to the team at Wildfire, especially my very perceptive editor, Jack Butler.Thank you Robert Webb for taking care of the kids and laundry while I wrote the book, for putting up with me wittering endlessly about plot