''Mother's Milk'' is a novel by

Edward St Aubyn Edward St Aubyn (born 1960) is an English author and journalist. He is the author of ten novels, including notably the semi-autobiographical ''Patrick Melrose'' novels. In 2006, ''Mother's Milk'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Early life ...

. The 279-page book is a sequel to the trilogy ''Some Hope'' that St. Aubyn wrote in the 1990s. ''Mother's Milk'' was written in 2006 and was short listed for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

that year. It was republished in a single volume with ''Never Mind'', ''Bad News'' and ''Some Hope'' in 2012. All four novels are based on the author's life growing up in an upper-class English family and deal with issues including alcoholism, heroin addiction, parent-child relationships, and child molestation. In 2012, the book was adapted into a film directed by Gerry Fox and co-written by St. Aubyn. The film starred

Jack Davenport Jack Arthur Davenport (born 1 March 1973) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series '' This Life'' and ''Coupling'', and as James Norrington in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series. He has also appeared i ...

Adrian Dunbar Adrian Dunbar (born 1 August 1958) is an Irish actor, director, and singer from Northern Ireland, known for his television and theatre work. He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film '' Hear My Song'', nominated for Best Original Screenplay at t ...

Diana Quick Diana Marilyn Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress. Early life and family background Quick was born on 23 November 1946 in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of four children. Her father was Leonard Quic ...

, and

Margaret Tyzack Margaret Maud Tyzack (9 September 193125 June 2011) was an English actress. Her television roles included '' The Forsyte Saga'' (1967) '' I, Claudius'' (1976), and George Lucas's '' Young Indiana Jones'' (1992–1993). She won the 1970 BAFTA TV ...

Synopsis

The novel recounts the vicissitudes of the family of Patrick and Mary Melrose; it is divided into four parts, each being the month of August in the years 2000 to 2003. They have two sons, Robert who is five when the novel opens, and Thomas who is born in that year. The family lives in London. Patrick is in his early forties. He is a barrister, though not a very busy one. Mary is totally devoted to her children, especially Thomas. She is no longer a sexual partner for her husband, who has an affair and, when that ends, turns to drink. Patrick’s mother, Eleanor, is incapacitated by a stroke, and lives in a nursing-home in France. Eleanor’s family was once immensely rich, but her mother bequeathed most of the wealth to her second husband (Eleanor’s stepfather), a French aristocratic adventurer. The asset remaining, which should in due course become Patrick’s, is a house and land in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

, France. However, Eleanor has fallen under the influence of a charlatan-guru, Seamus, an Irishman, a former nurse, who heads a so-called self-discovery foundation, and she has in effect given the property to him. At present Patrick’s family still has the right to stay in the house in August each year, but Seamus contrives to take that right away from them. Eleanor requests to be moved to a nursing-home in London, which enables Seamus to take full control. In London she asks Patrick to kill her. He arranges for her to travel to Switzerland, where she can be legally assisted to commit suicide, but almost at the last minute she writes a new instruction, “Do nothing.” Patrick makes his own interpretation of these words: he will never visit her again.

References

{{Reflist 2006 British novels British novels adapted into films Grove Press books