A Working Mother
Written by Agnes Owens / Introduction by Kirstin Innes
£4.99
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Reviews
One of the most arresting and distinctive voices of twentieth century literature
BBC Front Row
What underpins this black comedy is Owens’ authentic portrayal of 1950s working-class hardship, especially for women dreaming of escape
Daily Mail
Agnes Owens is one of Scotland's finest writers, and it's to be hoped that a new readership is about to discover that for themselves
SNACK Magazine
Brimming with dark humour and scalpel-sharp observations
Waterstones, Scottish Book of the Month
The time to rediscover Owens' sharp, brilliant, witty, fuss-free fiction is here
The Critic
Agnes Owens' hallmarks have been a frank irony, a deadpan gothic quality and a down-to-earth insistence on the surreality of most people’s normality
Ali Smith
Owens pulls no punches. Her understated prose finds acerbic humour in the lives of characters hovering between farce and tragedy
Observer
Owens is a gift to the Scots urban world
The Sunday Times
Her black humour and piercing observation bear comparison with the work of Muriel Spark
Guardian
Owens has a voice no one could imitate, and humour to match . . . Scottish life as lived by those far from the comfort zone, depicted less with loathing than with love
Rosemary Goring
A hidden treasure of Scottish literature, read this and then read all her other works
Douglas Stuart – Booker Prize-Winning author of SHUGGIE BAIN
Rightfully celebrates a writer whose work deserves a wider audience and critical reappraisal
Scotland on Sunday
The wonderful Agnes Owens, too often overlooked in life, is making a splashy comeback with repackaged novels
Bookseller Scotland Focus
‘Agnes Owens was such a fine writer. Her best stories are great stories . . . she created an art that will endure’
James Kelman
Recommended, especially for fans of Beryl Bainbridge, Elizabeth Berridge and Muriel Spark – a discomfort read that might just get under your skin!
Jacqui Wine's Journal
It is easy to detect Flannery O'Connor's shadow in the disturbingly quiet, unfussy juxtapositions of violence, mortality and mundane detail
Times Literary Supplement
With an acerbic style emanating from her narrator, Owens' depiction of a woman trapped in a marriage is authentic to 1950s working-class families and darkly comic
Radio Times
Among the many gifts Owens gives us is a glimpse into a scrappy aliveness, an attentiveness to the desire that pulls her characters and readers from one day to the next
Gutter Magazine
About the Book
A Working Mother is a perfectly crafted novel that will enthral, entertain and surprise in equal measure.
Our unreliable narrator, Betty – arch, witty, clever – is married with children and feels trapped. While her husband, Adam, drinks and bemoans his lot in life, Betty flirts with their best friend Brendan and tries to avoid the roving hands of her new employer. Soon, Betty plots her escape.
Agnes Owens' sharp wit, dark humour and lean prose are expertly displayed in one of her finest achievements.
'Agnes Owens was an absolutely brilliant novelist' – Kirstin Innes
'A terrific writer' – Liz Lochhead
'Her black humour and piercing observation bear comparison with the work of Muriel Spark' – Guardian
Published to celebrate Agnes Owens' centenary year in 2026.
The Authors
Agnes Owens
Agnes Owens was always a writer, although for the majority of her life she was preoccupied with making a living and domesticity. She married twice, brought up seven children and variously worked as a typist, cleaner and factory worker. It wasn’t until she attended an evening creative writing course that she wrote her first novel Gentlemen of the West, published in 1984 by Polygon to widespread critical acclaim; she would go on to write a further five novellas, including A Working Mother and For the Love of Willie, and three short-story collections. She died in 2014.
Kirstin Innes
Kirstin Innes is an award-winning writer, journalist and arts worker living in the west of Scotland. Her first novel Fishnet won The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize in 2015, and is currently in development for television with STV. Her second novel Scabby Queen was published by 4th Estate in 2020, and she is currently developing a play with the National Theatre of Scotland.
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