Megan Nolan on Agnes Owens’s A Working Mother, an Ode to Working Class Scotland
When my first book was published, a journalist interviewing me expressed breathless surprise that I didn’t have a college degree. It would be difficult to overstate, he later wrote in the piece, how unusual this is among novelists. This was
Megan Nolan introduces Agnes Owens's A Working Mother, a novel set in working class Scotland that was published in 1994. The book is an autobiographical work, reflecting Owens's own experiences raising and supporting her children amidst the chaos of substance abuse and trauma. The narrator Betty, like Owens's own husband, struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse.
The couple's relationship is marked by bickering, melancholy, and malice, as well as moments of companionship. Their world is filled with mundane and slapstick moments, often punctuated by the presence of alcohol. Despite their hardships, the couple finds solace in each other and in their friend Brendan, whom Betty treats like both a pet and a lover.
The novel's unique tone stems from Owens's ability to distribute weight evenly among the events, making even the most ordinary moments feel significant.
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