LARB Book Club Discussion: “Mother Mary Comes to Me” by Arundhati Roy

Join LARB staff and members in conversation about the latest Book Club pick, Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me! In her first work of memoir, acclaimed author Arundhati Roy recounts her remarkable life, tracing in particular her complicated relationship to her mother Mary. The conversation will take place on October 29, 2025, at 6 p.m. PST on Zoom. Log in to your account before registering for the discussion here.

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A raw and deeply moving memoir from the legendary author of The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, this book traces the author’s complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a fierce and formidable force who shaped Arundhati’s life both as a woman and as a writer.

Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, is a soaring account, both intimate and inspirational, of how the author became the writer and the person she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her complex relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother she describes as “my shelter and my storm.”

“Heart-smashed” by her mother Mary’s death in September 2022 yet puzzled and “more than a little ashamed” by the intensity of her response, Roy began to write to make sense of her feelings about the mother she ran from at age 18, “not because I didn’t love her, but in order to be able to continue to love her.” And so begins this astonishing, sometimes disturbing, and surprisingly funny memoir of the author’s journey from her childhood in Kerala, India, where her single mother founded a school, through the writing of her prizewinning novels and essays, to today.

With the scale, sweep, and depth of her novels, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, and the passion, political clarity, and warmth of her essays, Mother Mary Comes to Me is an ode to freedom, a tribute to thorny love and savage grace—a memoir like no other.

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“Arundhati Roy calls for ‘factual precision’ alongside of the ‘real precision of poetry.’ Remarkably, she combines those achievements to a degree that few can hope to approach.”—Noam Chomsky

“Arundhati Roy is one of the most confident and original thinkers of our time.” —Naomi Klein

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Arundhati Roy is the author of The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize in 1997, and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. Roy has also published several works of nonfiction including The End of Imagination, The Doctor and the Saint, My Seditious Heart, and Azadi. In 2023, she was awarded the prestigious European Essay Prize for lifetime achievement, and in 2024 the PEN Pinter Prize for telling “urgent stories of injustice with wit and beauty.” She lives in Delhi.

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LARB Friend-level members and higher receive a free copy with their membership and access to the discussion. All other members are invited to join the discussion and purchase a copy of Mother Mary Comes to Me at a bookstore near you, or through our partnership with Bookshop.org. Check out the latest membership newsletter for the 10% off discount code with Bookshop.org, or email us!

If you are not a member, please upgrade or join to access member-only perks, like the LARB classic tote, a subscription to our signature print magazine, conversations with LARB editors and members, and more. Join the LARB Book Club and support the work of LARB staff and writers.

If you have questions or thoughts about the book that you want to address during the discussion, please email [email protected] before October 28, 2025.