be guid tae yer mammy

Daughter of a Glasgow shipyard labourer, Jean Kelly grew up in the 1930s believing that anything was possible and dreamed of becoming a star of the silver screen. After she left school at 14 and logic told her that the chances of it happening were slim, she never gave up on her dream—even when her best friend Lizzie was plucked from obscurity by a Hollywood production company and she wasn’t. But then the war and Donald came along, and by VE Day, Jean was pregnant and had resolved to become a “guid mammy” instead. Not wanting anyone to know about her failed dream or her friendship with Lizzie, Jean tells no one—not even her husband Donald.

© 2019 Elisabeth Graham

She spends the next seven decades angry at the world; hoping against hope that by following the Catholic faith to a tee, or at least telling herself she is, that she'll get her chance to shine in the next life instead of this one. Meanwhile, as Lizzie rises to Hollywood superstardom, Jean finds fame beyond being the first woman in Thistlegate to give birth after the war. She inspires reverence in her children, particularly youngest daughter Marie—who, from the moment she is born, is Jean’s Cinderella. This matriarchal dominance coupled with Jean’s penchant for gossiping enables her to almost convince herself that she has succeeded in life. Almost.

© 2019 Elisabeth Graham

But after a lifetime of being subject to Jean’s petty gossip and whims, Marie finally takes a stand, unleashing her siblings’ fury and tearing apart Jean’s family—the only legacy she had to leave to the world. Jean is then forced to rethink everything she thought she knew about leading a memorable life when she finds herself in a situation more unlikely than her dream of going to Hollywood in the first place. But will she learn what it means to be a guid mammy before it’s too late?

Narrated by three generations, Jean, daughter Marie, and granddaughters Kate and Isla, be guid tae yer mammy is a darkly comic family drama set in modern-day Scotland.