Novels which explore mother/son relationships - any examples?

[ArgosTheDog]

Father/son, father/daughter and mother/daughter relationships seem to be much more commonly explored in novels than mother/son relationships.

Can anyone suggest any novels which explore mother/son relationships?

The only one I can think of is one of the Patrick Melrose series of novels by Edward St Aubyn.

Peter Wimsey & Francis Crawford both have excellent mothers.

I read Sons & Lovers at A level too I loved it. I've read it three times since.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I'm not necessarily looking for examples where the relationship is central to the book....just where it's more than fleetingly touched on.

"Kevin" is so powerful and, as is always said, it is simply astonishing that Lionel Shriver could have written it despite having no children.

Love in the Present Tense - Catherine Ryan Hyde

The main protagonist/narrator’s relationship with their mother is important and quite well explored in both The World According to Garp and (I think I’m remembering right) A Prayer for Owen Meaney Both by John Irving.

The Banyan Tree - Christopher Nolan

I love "Kevin", it's one of my favourite books.

Ann Tyler's books Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and The Clock Winder aren't strictly Mother/Son relationship books but they do both feature family relationships and how the adult children relate to their mother and each other.

Homesick has a woman with two sons and a daughter, Clock Winder has a woman with four sons (Timothy, Matthew, Andrew, and PJ) I think.

They might not be exactly what you were wanting in terms of Mother/Son relationships but An Tyler is a wonderful author and all of her books explore relationships and the dynamics of those relationships, and they are well worth a read.

Heard a trailer on radio 4 tonight for a Lauren Laverne programme on Sunday afternoon exploring how mother/son relationships are explored in art, film and literature. Thought of this thread

oooo! Thanks @auberginesrus

We Need To Talk About kevin is amazing but yes very bleak

I just thought of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill. That has quite an interesting mother son relationship in

A Dark Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine has an interesting mother/son dynamic.

Oedipus Rex - Sopocles Kikash

The Crying tree by Naseem Rakha is really good.

It is another bleak one, definitely, but uplifting. For some reason my copy has a photo of a young girl on the front cover - no idea why really as the mother and son are the main characters.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout made me cry when my DS was tiny. The mother-son relationship is one of many in the book, but it was the one that stuck with me.

The Shining actually has some really interesting insights into a Mum who's own mother hasn't been a great one, and who struggles a bit with her son because of it, and bonds with him more too.

Falling for Icarus? Whilst it doesn't explore the relationship exactly it's about the son's determination to achieve his dreams whilst grieving the death of his mother.

Sons and lovers was my first thought.
One of the best and most memorable is in the Cazalet Chronicles. It's the relationship between Michael and his mother. I think they appear in book 3 (possibly 2 - will have to check!) It is based on the real life relationship between Peter Scott and his mother.
Recently I have read Perfect by Rachel Joyce which has a very central mother and son relationship.

@Hygge ooh yes, Anne Tyler! She's brilliant at it - she's really amazing at exploring family relationships.
The one that sprang to my mind when I read the question was Patrick Gale's Notes from an Exhibition. It's not strictly about just the mother and the son, but I really loved its exploration of the conflict of being a mother vs being a woman.

The truth about Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell

Mothers' Boys by Margaret Forster.

Not a novel but Nigel Slaters Toast talks deeply about his relationship with his mother and step mothers