A clever and propulsive debut novel tracing the complicated relationship between a larger-than-life actress who refuses to abandon her career for motherhood, and the daughter she chooses to abandon instead, as they confront one another once and for all. Sadie Jones, prominent actor and controversial feminist, never wanted to be a mother. No one feels this more deeply than Jude, the daughter Sadie left behind. While Jude spent her childhood touring with her father's Shakespeare company, anxiously overpreparing for each sporadic visit from the mother she barely knew, Sadie catapulted to fame on the wings of The Mother Act-a scathing one-woman show depicting her maternal ambivalence. Now Jude is twenty-four and a talented actor in her own right, and her fraught relationship with Sadie has come to a head-bitterly and publicly. On a December evening in New York City, two decades after The Mother Act debuted, Jude takes her seat at the front of a packed theater. In her dressing room, Sadie prepares to step onstage for the premiere of Mother/Daughter, sequel to the show that started it all-only this time, she's attempting to depict Jude's perspective on their relationship, too. Over the course of this single opening night, as Sadie accounts for her choices and Jude relives her painful past, the questions hover: Is it possible to be both a dedicated artist and a dedicated mother, what are the costs of each, and who decides whether the collateral damage is justified? Compelling and insightful, The Mother Act is a dynamic page-turner exploring motherhood, gender roles, art, and identity.