Meg Mason Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Meg Mason is a contemporary, comedy and humor and literary fiction author from Australia best known as the author of “Sorrow and Bliss.” The author was born in New zealand but her parents who worked in Agriculture and education moved the family to Australia when she was sixteen. Mason went to the University of Sydney where she studied History and English before she moved to the UK with her husband in 2000. For a time, she worked as a journalist for the likes of The Times of London and the Financial Times before she moved back to Australia. Since then her work has been featured in The Sunday Telegraph, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sunday Times UK. She has also been a regular columnist for Vogue, GQ, Marie Claire, ELLE, and written humor for The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and Sunday Style magazine. She made her fiction writing debut with the publishing of her novel “You Be Mother” in 2017.

After she published “Say It Again In A Nice Voice,” a memoir about becoming a mother, she got a deal to publish her second novel. Once she wrote the manuscript, she found that she hated the story though it had vignettes of the lead characters of her blockbuster work Martha and Patruick. Still, she thought she had written a lot to just throw in the trash and thus she sent the script to Catherine Milne, her publisher. Milne thought there was something worth salvaging in it but over a champagne fueled conversation, she admitted that it was not working. She advised her to put the manuscript away and take a break before deciding on the next step. She wept over the manuscript and avoided bookstores for months as she could not bear the thought of looking at new releases. She had always wanted to write full time and it seemed that the dream was slipping away. But while hanging up laundry, the entire story of Patrick and Martha came to her as if in a vision.

It took Meg Mason six months to pen her manuscript before she presented it to her publisher. Milne had no idea she was working on it until she submitted it as she wanted to write something with complete abandon. She would usually go to the Art Gallery of New South Wales as it was the only place she was sure she would find a quiet place to do her writing. She often took breaks from writing to go look at some of the art and painting collections. It made her feel better as she thought of all the people that had tried to make something creative just like her. “Sorrow and Bliss,” her bestselling title to date, would become a bestseller selling more than 100,000 copies. The film and TV rights for the movie have also been bought.

Meg Mason’s “Sorrow and Bliss” is the story of Marthan and Ingrid, her younger sister who have an enviable relationship with each other. Growing up, they had very creative parents which meant they had to lean on each other more often than not. Even though they have a dysfunctional family at home, the extended family provides much relief. During the holidays Patrick, an agreeable, polite and shy boy who is three years younger than Martha usually visits. What she does not know is that over time he has fallen in love with her and wants to help her when she struggles with mental health as a seventeen year old. She just cannot seem to find any relief despite the many medications and different practitioners she sees. Given the circumstances, she oscillates between a little bit of happiness and descent into despair. Since she had been told that it would be dangerous to carry a pregnancy while on her medication, she strives to protect herself from becoming a mother and convinces herself that she never wanted motherhood anyway. This causes problems in her marriage to her first husband and later with Patrick.

“You Be Mother” by Meg Mason is the story of Abi, a resident of Croydon and young mother newly arrived in Sydney. She had come to the big city to start a new life and reunite with her son’s father Stu. The three of them had then moved into a small flat that belongs to Stu’s parents in Cremorne even though it is soon clear to Abi that her husband may not have been ready for marriage. He wants to play bachelor and often leaves her and the child alone for long periods while he is out drinking with his buddies and studying. She tries to get over her loneliness by taking her baby on long walks in his pram and it is while she is on one of these walks that she meets her neighbor Phyllida Woolnough. She is also battling loneliness as she recently lost her husband while all her grown children live overseas. The two soon form an unlikely friendship as Jude slips into the gap Phyllida’s children left while Phil becomes something of a mother to Abi.