Sarah Harman shares the journey behind All the Other Mothers Hate Me, from journalism to fiction, a fierce book auction, and its upcoming FX adaptation.

You’ll know immediately if this book is for you from the opening line:

“The missing boy is ten-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he’s a little shit.”

That audacious beginning sets the tone for All the Other Mothers Hate Me, a compulsively readable thriller perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Finlay Donovan.

Sarah Harman’s journey to publication is just as gripping as her novel. A former foreign correspondent for NBC News, Harman’s background in breaking news reporting brings a sharp, fast-paced edge to her storytelling. Her debut became the subject of a fierce bidding war, ultimately securing a major deal—and soon, it’ll hit the screen, adapted for FX by The Bear’s Christopher Storer.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How All the Other Mothers Hate Me subverts the missing-child thriller trope
• The surreal experience of a nine-way auction for her book deal
• Her involvement in adapting the novel for television
• The cultural and feminist themes woven into her story

BONUS BOOK LIST: This week’s book list features 30 Amateur Sleuths in Novels that will keep you on your toes. From upcoming releases to backlist gems, we’ve got plenty of whodunits to explore.

Join the Conversation!

Who is your favorite amateur sleuth in fiction? Drop a comment on Spotify—I’d love to hear your recommendations!

All the Other Mothers Hate Me Book Summary

Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name, or risk losing Dylan forever.

The only problem? Florence has no discernible skills, let alone detective ones, and all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and Florence has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe…

Hilarious and twisted, propulsive and furious, All the Other Mothers Hate Me is the must-read book of 2025.

Meet Sarah Harman

Sarah Harman is an American journalist-turned-thriller writer living in London. Before making her fiction debut, she spent over a decade covering major global news stories. Her novel All the Other Mothers Hate Me is out now from Putnam, with translation rights sold in 15 countries and a TV adaptation in the works.

How Sarah Harman’s Debut Took Publishing by Storm

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

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Mentioned in this episode:

NEW BONUS BOOK LIST: 30 Unlikely Amateur Sleuths Are On The Case In This Book Stack

Join the March Book Club Chat (Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson)

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman

Professional Book Nerds: Spring’s Best New Books with Amy Allen Clark

Emancipation of Mimi

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Sorrow & Bliss by Meg Mason

Fleabag

Young Adult

Bad Teacher

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Jinwoo Chong celebrates food, family, & finding love in his cozy novel, I Leave It Up To You. Learn how this project helped him fall in love with writing again.

What if you fell asleep in 2019 and woke up in 2021? That’s the reality for Jack Jr., who emerges from a two-year coma to find his life unrecognizable. His job is gone, his apartment is lost, and his partner has moved on. But in his return to his childhood home and his family’s struggling restaurant, he begins to rebuild—rekindling relationships, rediscovering love, and redefining what home truly means.

Jinwoo Chong shares the beautiful inspiration behind this poignant and tender slice-of-life novel, which seamlessly blends a swoon-worthy love story with a cozy family drama. We discuss how I Leave It Up to You evolved from a short story, the impact of the pandemic on its themes, and the role of food as both a comfort and a metaphor for resilience.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss our Captivating Books About Nurses Book List, featuring 28 incredible new and backlist titles celebrating caregivers.

I Leave It Up To You Book Summary

A coma can change a man, but the world Jack Jr. awakens to is one he barely recognizes. His advertising job is history, his Manhattan apartment is gone, and the love of his life has left him behind. He’s been asleep for two years; with no one to turn to, he realizes it’s been ten years since he last saw his family.

Lost and disoriented, he makes a reluctant homecoming back to the bustling Korean American enclave of Fort Lee, New Jersey; back into the waiting arms of his parents, who are operating under the illusion that he never left; and back to Joja, their ever-struggling sushi restaurant that he was set to inherit before he ran away from it all. As he steps back into the life he abandoned—learning his Appa’s life lessons over crates of tuna on bleary-eyed 4 a.m. fish runs, doling out amberjack behind the omakase counter while his Umma tallies the night’s pitiful number of customers, and sparring with his recovering alcoholic brother, James—he embraces new roles, too: that of romantic interest to the nurse who took care of him, and that of sage (but underqualified) uncle to his gangly teenage nephew.

There is value in the joyous rhythms of this once-abandoned life. But second chances are an even messier business than running a restaurant, and the lure of a self-determined path might, once again, prove too hard to resist.

Meet Jinwoo Chong

Jinwoo Chong is the author of Flux, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and VCU Cabell First Novel awards, and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. His work has appeared in The Southern Review, Guernica, The Rumpus, and more. His latest novel, I Leave It Up to You, is now available from Penguin Random House.

How a Cozy Family Drama Made This Love Fall In Love With His Craft (Jinwoo Chong Interview)

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Mentioned in this episode:

NEW BONUS BOOK LIST: 30 Captivating Books About Nurses

Join the March Book Club Chat (Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson)

I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

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Eowyn Ivey joins us from Alaska to discuss her latest magical realism novel, Black Woods Blue Sky. Prepare to be transported by one of my favorite storytellers.

The queen of magical realism, Eowyn Ivey, joins us to share intriguing insights into her third novel, Black Woods Blue Sky, and how her deep connection to Alaska continues to shape her storytelling.

She also discusses the challenges of writing through a difficult personal season, the impact of reuniting with her longtime editorial team, and the immersive research that took her to a remote hunting camp on Kodiak Island.

Discover her ties to the character Emmaleen, how Birdie’s contradictions capture the realities of relatable motherhood, and what stereotypes about rural Alaska she wanted to challenge through her character’s bookish adventures.

Don’t miss this week’s Fairy Tale Retellings Book List featuring 27 magical books to escape with this weekend.  

Patrons can join us for a bonus spoiler-filled conversation! Eowyn will share her thoughts on Blackwood’s Blue Sky ending and the fine line she teetered between reality and imagination in her moving story. Get your tissues- it’s a beautiful bonus chat.

Black Woods Blue Sky Book Summary

Birdie’s keeping it together; of course she is. So she’s a little hungover, sometimes, and she has to bring her daughter, Emaleen, to her job waiting tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but she’s getting by as a single mother in a tough town. Still, Birdie can remember happier times from her youth, when she was free in the wilds of nature.

Arthur Neilsen, a soft-spoken and scarred recluse who appears in town only at the change of seasons, brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Most people avoid him, but to Birdie, he represents everything she’s ever longed for. She finds herself falling for Arthur and the land he knows so well.

Against the warnings of those who care about them, Birdie and Emaleen move to his isolated cabin in the mountains, on the far side of the Wolverine River.

It’s just the three of them in the vast black woods, far from roads, telephones, electricity, and outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. At first, it’s idyllic and she can picture a happily ever after: Together they catch salmon, pick berries, and climb mountains so tall it’s as if they could touch the bright blue sky. But soon Birdie discovers that Arthur is something much more mysterious and dangerous than she could have ever imagined, and that like the Alaska wilderness, a fairy tale can be as dark as it is beautiful.

Black Woods, Blue Sky is a novel with life-and-death stakes, about the love between a mother and daughter, and the allure of a wild life—about what we gain and what it might cost us.

Meet Eowyn Ivey

Eowyn Ivey is the bestselling author of The Snow Child, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and To the Bright Edge of the World. Born and raised in Alaska, she draws inspiration from its rugged landscapes and folklore. Black Woods Blue Sky is her highly anticipated third novel, which is now available on store shelves from Random House.

Returning to Magical Realism With Eowyn Ivey

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

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Mentioned in this episode:

NEW BONUS BOOK LIST: 27 Fairy Tale Retellings to Enchant Your Reading Life

Join the March Book Club Chat (Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson)

Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

Ruth Hulbert

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches 10% to independent bookstores!

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Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

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