Angela Bradbury's 'Poor Mother' : delicate, humble, permanently disappointed, has made endless sacrifices for her family, for which they can never quite be grateful enough. 'You can't please your mother', as her father says.

Even now, just one phone call from Mother can send Angela spiralling into guilt, self-recrimination and doubts over her own abilities as a mother. Worryingly, Angela's relationship with her own daughter Sadie seems to be going the same way, as Sadie develops into a sullen, unresponsive adolescent. It seems that motherhood is a heritage of disappointments and broken promises. But Angela is determined that, somehow, her relationship with Sadie will be different.

Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster was the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, includingHave the Men Had Enough?,Lady's Maid,Diary of an Ordinary Woman,IsThere Anything You Want?, Keeping the World Away,OverandThe Unknown Bridesmaid. She also wrote bestselling memoirs Hidden Lives, Precious Livesand, most recently,My Life in Houses and biographies. She was married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lived in London and the Lake District. She died in February 2016, just before her last novel,How to Measure a Cow, was published.

'Forster has a God-given gift for storytelling' - The Times