Mother Mary Comes to Me
| Author | Arundhati Roy |
|---|---|
| Genre | Memoir |
Publication date | September 2025 |
Mother Mary Comes to Me is a memoir by Arundhati Roy published in 2025.
It is centred on the eventful life of her mother Mary Roy, who is "sharp, restless and charismatic, a visionary ruling with an iron fist[1]" and Arundhati Roy's relations with her.[2][3]In author's own words, it is "about my relationship with my mother, about how she made me the kind of writer that I am - and then resented it"[4]. However, the book is also "a search for the roots of Roy’s own evolution into a writer"[5]. One commentator termed it a "biography cum autobiography of two remarkable women"[6].
The book received wide reviews published in leading newspapers and magazines, including the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Times Literary Supplement[1] and The Hindu[7],The Straits Times[8], to cite a few. The New York Times included the work in the list of the 10 Best Books of 2025[9].
John Reed in a review published in the Financial Times, UK, commented: "The book has the lyricism of Gabriel García Márquez, the political sweep of Barbara Kingsolver, and the antic family humour of David Sedaris. There is not an ounce of self-pity in it."[10] Amit Chaudhari in a review published by The Guardian found the book to be "brave and absorbing," noting that Roy’s account of her mother has a "wonderful, self-assured self-sufficiency." He found the prose "unexpectedly funny" despite the heavy subject matter[11]. Alexandra Jacobs in a review in The New York Times praised the memoir as "sturdy and polished,". She noted that Roy does not soften the "abrasive presence" of her mother, Mary Roy, presenting her both as "shelter and storm."[12]Kirkus Review described it as "an intimate, stirring chronicle" that revives "...the tangled complexities of filial love".[13]
Arundhati Roy received Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award 2026 for the work. Mathrubhumi praised her "ability to distil profound emotional complexity into powerful prose". It added, "her writing combines clarity with intensity". Accepting the award, Roy described the book as the most difficult one she has written. She said, "much of it was written at night and revisited the next morning", as she "grappled with some of (her) deepest fears and emotions"[14].
It is long listed for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.[15]
References
- ^ a b Agarwal, Pragya. "Shelter and storm". TLS. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ Gornick, Vivian (26 February 2026). "Mother Trouble". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 73, no. 3. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ Mead, Rebecca (3 September 2025). "What to Make of the Mother Who Made You". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ Biswas, South (4 September 2025). "Arundhati Roy's fierce memoir on life with her mercurial mother". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (30 August 2025). "Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a 'Culture of Fear'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ^ Walpola, Thilina (21 September 2025). "Comment: Arundhati Roy's Mother Mary Comes to Me". Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ^ Dixit, Neha (28 August 2025). ""I wasn't brave. I did not have a choice," says Arundhati Roy in an interview about her memoir". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ "Shawn Hoo's top books of 2025". The Straits Times. 20 December 2025. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2025". The New York Times. 2 December 2025. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
- ^ Reed, John (30 August 2025). "Arundhati Roy: 'One half of me was taking the pain, the other half was taking notes'". Financial Times, UK. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Chaudhuri, Amit (1 September 2025). "Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy review – brave and absorbing". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ Jacobs, Alexandra (2 September 2025). "She Raged. She Terrified. And She Shaped Arundhati Roy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ Khosla, Aishwarya (10 February 2026). "Arundhati Roy wins Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award for 'Mother Mary Comes to Me'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ^ Nugent, Annabel (11 February 2026). "Arundhati Roy and Sarah Perry longlisted for Women's Non-Fiction Prize". The Independent. Retrieved 12 February 2026.