The novel begins in 2010, with the narrator, Mae, recalling her mother’s obsession with a children’s farm animals book. Her mother, often drunk, would insist all animals were sheep, and Mae went along with it to avoid danger. They became estranged, and Mae, seeking answers about her personal problems, bombarded the book’s publishing company with over two hundred emails. An ill-mannered employee warned her with legal action until, anonymously, a copy of the book arrived, reuniting Mae with her mother.
In their reconnection, Mae visited her mother at a retirement village. Her mother spent her time watching home videos made by her lodger, Mikey. Mae found her mother’s nostalgia disconcerting, especially when her mother started asking invasive questions about Mae’s sexual life. The day before her mother’s death, Mae watched a quiz show with her and her friends. Her mother answered a question about who shot Andy Warhol and died the following day. Mae arranged a Catholic funeral, surprising the priest who’d never seen her at mass.
The narrative shifts to 1966, where seventeen-year-old Mae lived in New York with her mother and Mikey. Mae’s fallout with her best friend, Maud, led her to ride department store escalators daily. Her school’s dance performance ended in chaos when a girl suffered a seizure, leading to Mae’s social ostracism.
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