Meet Barri Brown. Respected teacher. Upstanding citizen of Guernsey. Down for a bit of law-breaking.
Barri is preparing for a year’s paid maternity leave but there’s a catch: She isn’t pregnant.
With seven foam bumps, a wardrobe full of smock dresses and a great pregnancy heist planned, all Barri has to do is blag it until she can disappear for good, without getting caught and being sent to prison for fraud. Child’s play.
But can she really get away with telling the mother of all lies?
"It's good for the soul to jump aboard a hare-brained scheme every now and again."
It's time for the mother of all lies in this tumultuous, messy comedy drama as one woman risks everything to just have a god damn break. Meet Barri, our eccentric main character who doesn't look like she'd commit maternity fraud but … that's the plan.
Did she mean to? not exactly.
Is that a bit shady? absolutely.
Is this some kind of breakdown? probably.
But do I find myself not only wanting her to get away with it but wondering if I could pull it off? yep!
She's had a bad time recently, between a runaway husband, horrific colleagues, overbearing parents and a total lack of direction. I felt for her, even though she is frustrating as hell and I wanted to scream at her sometimes. Despite that, she's written so brilliantly that her ridiculous ideas, stubbornness and strangeness become quite endearing. She's frank and honest in the way she tells her story, like she's casually chatting to the reader before meandering off into her own thoughts.
Barri finds herself in the most absurd situations, from befriending a shellfish thieving student to blackmail - trying not only to keep her secrets but solve a whole host of new problems and figure out what her asshole ex is hiding.
Our leading lady and the supporting cast were lovable oddballs in the best way; full of beautiful, sometimes relatably awkward moments of love and family that just made me smile. I'll admit I felt a little rambling at certain points with a bit of filler that did make me want to read ahead, but it still wasn't exactly out of place and just made it a bit of a slower read for me.
Despite being a story about a fake pregnancy, this book definitely brought up some relevant and frustratingly familiar conversations about modern motherhood - the absurdity of the double standards and expectations on mothers, how pregnant people are treated as community property, but also the judgement and treatment of women who don't have, or don't want to have children. I adored the interwoven message about chosen families, as someone who has plenty of mothers who didn't give birth to me. I felt every single line and honestly, I might do a Barri and do something drastic the next time a stranger thinks they're entitled to information about my vagina or expects me to fold my life around their child.
"I'm sick to the back teeth of people telling me how big I am, how small I am, giving me their predictions over whether it's a boy or girl. It is like my pregnancy is now the only thing that defines me. Like I am not a human being that exists beyond being pregnant."
Riotously funny and utterly, unbelievable bonkers, Motherfaker has all the stomach-churning anxiety of getting caught doing something red-handed but the heart and soul of a good old comedy. It does delve into some more tough topics as part of the journey, including divorce, sexism and fertility but they're considered with care, these catalysts being explored as part of Barri's life and looking at the lasting impacts.
Messy and mad but full of warmth, this is at its core the story of a woman taking back control of her life and figuring out what she wants - albeit through very questionable methods.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Motherfaker will be available from February 26th 2026 with Pan Macmillan. I received a reviewers copy of this title.
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