The ten worst mothers in literature – according to our experts

By Alison Taft, Course Director of Creative Writing, Leeds Beckett University
Ailish Kate Brassil, PhD Candidate, University College Cork
Angela Dunstan, Reader in English Literature and Visual Culture | International Lead for the School of the Arts, Queen Mary University of London
Christina Hennemann, PhD Student Creative Writing / Abortion Poetics, University of Limerick
Clodagh Philippa Guerin, PhD Candidate in Refugee World Literature, University of Limerick
Edel Semple, Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies, University College Cork
Faye Lynch, PhD candidate in the Department of English Literature, University of Liverpool
Sarah Olive, Senior Lecturer in Literature, Aston University
Stephanie Palmer, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts & Humanities, Nottingham Trent University
Wen-chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, SOAS, University of London

For Mother’s Day, we asked ten of our academic experts to tell us who they think is the worst mother in literature. From serious villains to children’s book baddies, these mothers subvert every maternal instinct.

1. Mummy, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)

Isolated, broken and wedded to routine, 30-year-old Eleanor avoids mirrors, not due to the physical scars she bears, but because she sees “too much of Mummy’s face there”.

Readers meet “Mummy” only…

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