Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence | Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | Selected as One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year!

In this New?York?Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgment lands a young mother in a dystopian government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this "surreal" (People), "remarkable" (Vogue), and "infuriatingly timely" (The New York Times Book Review) debut literary fiction novel.

Frida Liu, a hardworking Chinese American mother, is pushed to the edge. She doesn't live up to the expectations set by her immigrant parents or her wellness-obsessed husband. Only with Harriet?cherubic and beloved?does she find a measure of fulfillment…until she has a very bad day.

In this close-to-future dystopia, the state targets mothers like Frida: mothers who check their phones, let their children walk home alone, or make one parenting error. Because of one mistake, Frida is sent to a government-run institution?a Big Brother?style reform school for "good mothers," where every move is monitored, and even her love is judged.

For custody to be returned, she must prove that a flawed mother can be redeemed and learn to be "good." Filled with dark wit and emotional urgency, The School for Good Mothers is an intense, captivating novel that scrutinizes upper-middle-class parenting, systemic surveillance of women, and the violence exacted by both the state and one another. It offers a transgressive exploration of motherhood, resilience, guilt, and the force of love.

Using spare, compelling prose, Jessamine Chan crafts an unforgettable, modern classic that resonates with readers of The Handmaid's Tale and 1984, while centering a richly drawn woman navigating class, race, and motherhood under the gaze of an unyielding system.

Jessamine Chan

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn't have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents' sacrifices. She can't persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother's devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

A searing page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of "perfect" upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.