Mothers and Sons...is the story as fraught as the title suggests?

An examination of family dynamics through three novels...Adam Haslett’s Mothers and Sons reflects on unspoken stories and familial divides; The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr, set in 1970s Ireland, tells the story of a family that takes in a child washed ashore, and Robert Lukins’ Somebody Down There Likes Me depicts an uber-rich family who gather together as their wealth and corruption begin to unravel. BOOKS Adam Haslett, Mothers and Sons, Hamish Hamilton Robert Lukins, Somebody Down There Likes Me, Allen & Unwin Garrett Carr, The Boy from the Sea, Picador GUESTS Claire Mabey, founder of NZ’s Verb Wellington literary organisation and writers’ festival; books editor at The Spinoff; writer whose middle-grade children’s book The Raven's Eye Runaways was published last year. And, here's a link to the NZ book awards Claire mentions: https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/) Jonty Claypole, CEO Red Room Poetry; co-host of podcast The Secret Life of Books; author, Words Fail Us: In Defence of Disfluency  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Percival Everett, James Charles Dickens, David Copperfield Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead Samantha Harvey, Orbital Robert Lukins, The Everlasting Sunday; Loveland F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Herman Melville, Moby Dick Shakespeare, Hamlet Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited Audrey Magee, The Colony Paul Murray, The Bee Sting Paul Lynch, Prophet Song Colm Toibin, works Niall Williams, Time of the Child Fiona McFarlane, The Sun Walks Down James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Marilynne Robinson, Gilead Susannah Clarke, Piranesi Damien Wilkins, Delirious Harriet Baker, Rural Hours CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer: John Jacobs, Ann Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown