A
New York Times
Notable Book of the Year: a witty and sophisticated classic by one of Australia's most daring and entertaining novelists.
Edwin Page, a fussy middle-aged professor, no sooner bids farewell to his obstetrician wife, Cecilia, who accepted a fellowship abroad, when his new neighbors, Mrs. Botts and her sexy, twentyish daughter, Leila, arrive. Since they're locked out of their house, Edwin invites them in-and then can't get them to leave. He becomes obsessed with Leila and convinces himself that she is a perfect surrogate mother for the childless Cecilia. "Wickedly amusing . . . subversive" (
New York Times Book Review
),
The Sugar Mother
undoes the institution of marriage.