Mass Mothering

A Novel

By: Sarah Bruni

Narrated by: E J Lavery

A haunting, indelible novel of collective grief, resistance, and the radical, life-affirming virtue of testimony

A. is an amateur translator, living alone in an unforgiving, late-capitalist metropolis. Adrift and burdened by debt following a medical trauma, she makes rent caring for a young boy who is not and could never be her own. Her nights are spent on the dance floor, chasing spontaneous connection. There, she encounters N., who shares her numbed state and sometimes her bed.

Among N.’s meager possessions, A. comes across a slim book about an unnamed foreign town of disappearing boys. The book, Field Notes, documents the stories of a community of mothers who assemble to mourn their missing sons together. A. is transfixed by this collective chorus of primal grief, the mothers’ preternatural strength, and their intuitive care for one another. When a near-assault stuns A. out of her inertia, she takes off for the city where Field Notes was written in search of its author and the end of the story. But A.’s digging leads her instead to the traces of a murdered poet, a mysterious woman whose legacy will intersect unexpectedly and pivotally with A.’s own life.

Poignant and profoundly humane, Mass Mothering is told through layered voices, written fragments, and recorded testimonies. It is a luminous story of the mutuality of grief, the aftershocks of violence in a globalized era, and the world-bending force of a mother’s love.

©2026 Sarah Bruni (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Listeners who make it to this audiobook’s remarkable second act are in for a treat. EJ Lavery’s narration of two parallel stories—both, in different ways, about lost motherhood—is immersive. …the emotional impact of the real, global story being told is unforgettable. A poetic, fragmented, and deeply haunting story of motherhood and lost histories.”—Kirkus Audiobook Reviews

“In a fragmented, braided style reminiscent of Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation (2014), Bruni weaves together explorations of language, borders, and belonging, as well as of the precarious and frequently terrifying state of motherhood. The result is a deeply intelligent, prismatic look at the personal and political facets of maternal care. A truly original entry into the growing canon of motherhood novels.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“The prose is written as if between waking and sleep, illuminating the heart of motherhood . . . and highlights the transformative power of shared trauma and community. Bruni's second novel . . . serves as an oracle in the wake of historical events, offering guidance through our most primal source of comfort―mothers.”―Booklist (starred review)