The Good Mother: A Novel

''A tour de force. Sue Miller goes straight to the dark heart of the matter of modern sexual morality.''   —Russell Banks


Sue Miller’s critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller about a woman torn between motherhood and sexual freedom, sacrifice and responsibility.

After an amicable divorces, piano teacher Anna Dunlap has built an independent life in New England for herself and her four-year-old daughter, Molly. It's all Anna thinks she needs — until she meets Leo Cutter, an artist who makes her feel desired, unabashedly sexual, and filled with certitude and passion for the first time.

All it takes is a single unguarded moment for Anna's perfect world to implode, Leveling shocking charges against Leo, Anna's ex-husband crashes back into Anna's life and takes Molly with him. When it thrusts Anna into a public and ugly custody battle, she is forced to defend her choices, to confront the damage done by the choices of others, and to prove herself, against seemingly unpardonable odds, a good mother.