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Original poster

Who is your favourite literary mother?

120 replies

MissHoneyPenny · 19/07/2025 21:18

Your favourite mother/mother figure from literature.

I think my top choices would be Marmee from Little Women, Miss Honey from Matilda (hence username) and Ma Joad from The Grapes of Wrath.

OP posts:
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Uricon2 · 18/09/2025 11:20

Another vote for Louisa Durrell and Molly Weasley.

Not a mother but a maternal figure, Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield.

BadAmbassador · 18/09/2025 10:57

ObtuseMoose · 19/07/2025 21:56

Pauline Mole, an absolute legend.

Yes!!

Strawberryvodka · 18/09/2025 10:50

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 23/07/2025 12:52

Val from The Women's Room. I really loved her relationship with Chris though (spoiler!) it ends sadly.

Oh me too! I adored that book.

FlorbelaEspanca · 17/09/2025 23:34

Rosamund Stacey.

FlorbelaEspanca · 17/09/2025 23:28

Needlenardlenoo · 21/07/2025 21:21

Mrs Madrigal in Tales of the City.

She has many faults but she is genuinely interested in all her "children" and comes to an understanding with her actual child in the end. And what a backstory.

It's a film rather than a book but the first time I saw Freaky Friday I identified with Lindsay Lohan as the teenage daughter, but then on a second viewing, years later, with Jamie Lee Curtis as the harried mum. Total whiplash!

Edited

It's a book as well, by Mary Rogers.

tripleginandtonic · 27/07/2025 14:13

I like the mother in Railway children, let's them get on with it and buys them cream buns when she sells her writing.
Best Dad is Danny the champion of the World's.

pikkumyy77 · 27/07/2025 14:12

Raksha, Mowgli’s wolf mother in The Jungle Book.

pikkumyy77 · 27/07/2025 14:11

Moominmamma.

BG2015 · 27/07/2025 14:09

Dr Ruth Galloway - such an amazing mum to Kate

DearZebra · 27/07/2025 11:03

As a maternal figure, Nancy from Oliver Twist who lives in a cruel and brutal world but bravely tries to help Oliver escape to a better life.
The scene in the film ‘Oliver’ where she is surrounded by adoring orphaned little boys singing “I’d do anything for you” pulls at my heart strings.

EllieQ · 27/07/2025 08:32

Dolamroth · 20/07/2025 13:29

Oh yes, how could I forget the dear Captain? I wish LMB would write more Aral and Cordelia, Shards of Honour is ❤️

Show quote history

Another vote for Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, and I’d add Lady Alys Vorpatril as well.

JaninaDuszejko · 23/07/2025 16:03

theproudgeek · 22/07/2025 22:41

DD (aged 12 and obsessed with Percy Jackson) would like to add Sally Jackson to the list. Does everything she can to protect her son, goes from candy store worker to novelist and always manages to feed all the random gods and monsters her son brings home.

My kids are all obsessed with Percy Jackson and having read the books myself I completely agree with your DD. She even married a man she hated to protect Percy (but got her happily ever after).

I also love Matty from the Old Baggage trilogy. My favourite quote: Hobbies are for people who don't read.

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 23/07/2025 12:52

Val from The Women's Room. I really loved her relationship with Chris though (spoiler!) it ends sadly.

Carriemac · 22/07/2025 22:54

IOYOYO · 19/07/2025 23:27

Jane Goldman in Brother of the more famous Jack, by Barbara Trapedo. A second novel - The Traveling Hornplayer tells the second half of the story. Really gorgeous books -they’ve stayed with me for decades. I loved Jane a lot.

I’d forgotten her . Wise woman and that husband was not easy.

theproudgeek · 22/07/2025 22:41

DD (aged 12 and obsessed with Percy Jackson) would like to add Sally Jackson to the list. Does everything she can to protect her son, goes from candy store worker to novelist and always manages to feed all the random gods and monsters her son brings home.

stayathomegardener · 22/07/2025 20:59

Roo’s mother Kanga in Winnie the Pooh.

DeirdreChambersWhatACoincidence · 22/07/2025 20:44

Oh, can I have Louisa Durrell too? I know she was a real person not a literary character but in the books she's so funny.

Edit to add Ma Larkin.

DeanElderberry · 22/07/2025 20:01

My comfort reads are Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries (cosies set in rural and small town Virginia). Meg becomes a pretty good mother herself as the series progresses, but her mother is both terrifying and wonderful. A woman to not be messed with.

Dolamroth · 22/07/2025 19:05

DeirdreChambersWhatACoincidence · 22/07/2025 18:39

Pauline Mole, my number one. I love her. I often think to myself "What would Pauline do."

Two, Daisy in Polo by Jilly Cooper. Bloody Hector. I was so happy when she ended up with Ricky.

She never did work out timing a turkey ❤️

Barbadossunset · 22/07/2025 18:56

PermanentTemporary · 19/07/2025 21:59
Sadie Alconleigh in The Pursuit of Love. I loved that book and enjoyed reading about an interesting and unusual mother rather than a plaster saint or perfect woman

I agree. And I enjoyed Polly’s mother, Lady Montdore, if only because she was so awful!

ExemplaryVegetable · 22/07/2025 18:47

DeirdreChambersWhatACoincidence · 22/07/2025 18:40

@ExemplaryVegetable hello, fellow Jilly fan!

Oh how funny 🤣

HobnobsChoice · 22/07/2025 18:42

WonderingWanda · 21/07/2025 21:31

Mrs Large from the Large family books...especially in 5 Minutes peace....love how she shamelessly goes for a bath with a tray of treats to escape her kids.

I'd come to post exactly this Mum! And she gets to relax for 30 seconds in the end downstairs. And her facial expressions in Mr Large in Charge. Never felt quite so validated as in those books!

DeirdreChambersWhatACoincidence · 22/07/2025 18:40

@ExemplaryVegetable hello, fellow Jilly fan!

ExemplaryVegetable · 22/07/2025 18:39

Sorry to go low-brow but I love Taggie Campbell-Black. And Lizzy Vereker

Also several other Jilly Cooper mothers such as Maud O’Hara and Daisy France-Lynch but just because they are lovely people, not necessarily great mothers!

LauderSyme · 22/07/2025 18:39

Mrs Ruggles, washerwoman and mother of 7 in The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett. The children were the focus of the stories but mum and dad each provided a constant, warm and loving presence.

I agree Mrs Weasley is a most endearing character and "Mollywobbles" still makes me smile.