The Mother’s Promise

This novel by Sally Hepworth is a real tearjerker. Alice discovers that she has ovarian cancer and is frantic at the idea of her daughter being left alone. Zoe, her 15 year old, has social anxiety disorder, which severely limits the activities that she is willing to do. Answering the phone, for instance, or making small talk with her classmates fills her with dread, so she avoids doing either. And Alice has no living relatives that could care for Zoe, in the event that she doesn’t beat the cancer. Her only sibling is an alcoholic, and certainly can’t be depended on. But life has a way of working out, even when the future looks extremely bleak. The plot moves a bit slowly, but the characters are well developed and if you don’t mind a few tears, this is a good read.