Earlier in this series, I talked with Chris McCormick about the sheer number of “different Californias” or visions of California that readers have. Horton: You give yourself lovely opportunities in the novel to write about Oceanside and various parts of San Diego and southern California. Bennett talked with me about the power of place–writing in the West through these many communities–“performing California-ness,” a weird excitement for wildfire season, forever building piers into the ocean, and In-N-Out burger. As their lives intertwine, unravel, and intertwine again, the novel considers the weights and responsibilities of many communities: mothers and children, families broken and whole, military towns, tourists and natives, and the church. The Mothers, largely set in the southern California town of Oceanside, explores the post-high school lives of three children of the Upper Room Chapel: University of Michigan-bound Nadia, pastor’s son Luke, and congregation darling Aubrey.

Those fortunate to cross paths with Bennett off the page are similarly uniform in their praise of this thoughtful, engaged, and dedicated writer.

The acclaim for Brit Bennett’s debut novel, The Mothers, has been widespread and effusive: glowing reviews, a place in the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35, and a National Book Critics Circle nomination as a finalist for the John Leonard Prize for best first book.

The mothers bennett