Today is mothers day here in the UK. Whatever your relationship with your mother or your personal situation, solace, strength and inspiration can always be found in literature so we thought we'd post about some of our favourite fictional mothers!
First up has to be Marmee from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Probably the first fictional mother I ever loved, she remains a comforting and infinitely reliable character. I love how she always listens to the girls and gives them advice - however dated that advice may be, I always feel like she did her best to raise her children to be able to look after themselves and everyone around them. She's one of those characters that just radiates love and I love that about her!
The fictional mother I feel is most like my own mother (especially so since I'm a redhead from a large family!) is Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter. I love her. Just like my mum she's pretty much willing to mother anyone that comes near enough, and heaven help anyone who tries to hurt her kids! She knits famously terrible jumpers, expresses her love through fussing and feeding her family and generally does her best with what she's got. She is a mother (and just a parent in general) for the ages.
Last year I read the Little House series for the first time and despite her faults I thought Ma Ingalls was generally a pretty fantastic mother. Throughout reading the books she constantly made me feel lazy with the amount that she did and expected her children to do too. She championed her children getting an education and kept them safe from all kinds of terrible things while never showing how scared she must have been at times.
Mrs Walker from Swallows and Amazons. I am noticing that in particularly the older books on this list the mothers don't have names, which is probably a whole separate post! However, Mrs Walker is particularly great. Firstly she's happy to let her children go off by themselves in a boat and camp on an island all summer (albeit one she can see from the house she's staying in), and then she manages to still effectively parent them from a distance. Yes, they're constantly getting themselves into trouble and there are a lot of times that they're lucky the trouble they're in isn't worse, but she pops up at opportune moments to give them little lessons in ethics and generally being a good person, plus the importance of being on time for dinner. I love her for how chilled she is, while also obviously loving her children.
Honourable mentions have to go to Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Granny isn't actually a mother and is pretty unmaternal,but she does give generally great advice and is a very strong advocate for people being able to do things for themselves, of which I'm firmly a fan! Nanny is really maternal and constantly reassuring people. She's also hilarious, which is important I think.
And heading out of the world of books, I have to mention Lorelai Gilmore of course! She's not perfect by a long shot but I love and adore her and Rory's relationship. She always tries to be there for Rory and give her the benefit of the doubt. She's her biggest champion and I think everyone deserves that from their mum!
Who are some of your fictional favourites?