Featherstone 
Cynthia Banham’s ‘Mother Shadow’ and How Writing Changes You as a Person
There was a packed house at Gleebooks in Sydney to celebrate the launch of Cynthia Banham’s extraordinary new book Mother Shadow: A Meditation on Maternal Inheritance (published by Terri-Ann White at Upswell). Having been lucky enough to work with Cynthia recently, being in that room and seeing her and her book celebrated was extra special.
Cynthia’s previous book, A Certain Light, was shortlisted in 2019 for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and in this, her second memoir, the story she reveals is again superbly crafted and thoroughly captivating.
I read a draft of Mother Shadow in a midnight can’t-put-it-down session and the themes haven’t left me. Part excavation of family secrets, part societal exposé, part history, it’s meticulously researched and a thought-provoking commentary on motherhood and disability too.
The structure of the book, the suspenseful reveals, the searching both literal and figurative Cynthia undertakes means the memoir reads, as Moreno Giovannoni said in his endorsement, ‘like a thriller’.
‘I’m a different person now to when I started the book,’ she remarked to host Fran Kelly. ‘I learnt self-forgiveness; I learnt compassion for the women whose stories I uncovered and I came to a realisation about myself as well…it’s the amazing thing about writing: it’s transformational. I’m grateful for it.’
My head and heart nodded along to that. It’s my experience of writing too. The thought processes, the searching for and wrestling with ideas and answers, the untangling of emotions, the asking of Why? Why? Why? The putting of thoughts into text. The unpicking. The erasures. The rewriting. The glossing. The sandpapering. The building. It’s not just our words we’re shaping, it’s ourselves. It’s how we’ll go forward with our lives knowing and understanding more about the world we live in and the way we live out.
I find writing a book can be therapy, play and mischief. It can be wrenching, near-impossible and taxing. It can be humbling, all-engrossing and one of the most comforting and rewarding things I do with my time…and it’s just a little bit addictive! For Cynthia, it took nine years. For us readers, it’s worth every one of them.
Whether you’re after a compelling read or a masterclass in memoir, order a copy of Mother Shadow from your favourite bookseller or library today.
Cynthia also writes beautifully beyond books. I’m a little partial to frogs and rewilding, and her recent Guardian piece on suburban rewilding also shows how a distinctive voice builds an audience that follows the writer, not just the topic.
See an instagram reel from the book launch here
You can find out more about Cynthia Banham, her writing and where she will be doing author talks and appearances at her beautiful new website here.