Frances moloney's Story

Frances Moloney grew up in London and studied in Falmouth and Sweden before writing her debut novel for children, inspired by her own experiences as a young person.

"I can’t talk about The Mystery of the Missing Mum without talking about my own mother, and my experience of growing up with a parent who lived with a serious mental health condition.

My mum had Schizophrenia, and was often in and out of hospital when I was young. Life at home could be very unpredictable, probably exacerbated by the fact that we lived in a one-bedroom flat with nowhere to escape to. 

It was an area of my life that I tried my best to hide when I was young. I didn’t think mental health was something that you were allowed to talk about, and I certainly didn’t think many people understood what I was going through. I thought I was the only person that went home to a parent who, as I believed at the time, was different to everyone else’s. I also think that I didn’t want to reveal that I was living a different experience from that of my peers. When I started to write,these formative experiences started to rise to the surface.

I wanted to write something that would help children in a similar situation to my own, and raise awareness of this important but frequently misunderstood topic. Even today, it’s a subject I don’t find easy to talk about openly, perhaps because of my fear of judgement, and the preconceived ideas of mental illness that often come with it. 

It’s a story about a young boy, Jake, who wakes up one morning to find that his mum has disappeared, and he makes it his mission to find her. The mystery of Jake’s mum’s whereabouts is revealed through a series of flashbacks until, finally, Jake remembers the truth. His mum, whom he adores, is in hospital.

The book is a story about perfectly imperfect families and friendships; Jake’s parents are separated, he has an older sister who has a different biological father, and he is often looked after by his grandma. It’s also set on a council estate, a reflection of the urban landscape that I grew up in, and the family dynamics that were often the norm.  

Crucially, like my own mother, who could be kind, funny, generous and determined, Jake’s mum, Christine, is not the archetype of someone with a mental health condition. She is a real mother, who has some of the same flaws and weaknesses that we all have, but who loves her children dearly and wants more than anything to get back home to be with them.

I hope the characters I have created reflect real families everywhere – often disjointed and dysfunctional. After all, there is no such thing as the perfect family. I just wish more people had told me that when I was a child."

Cover design and illustration by Thy Bui.

The Mystery of the Missing Mum is available to buy from Pushkin Press and other retailers.

Try reading a book together from our recommended reads for under-7s, recommended reads for ages 7-11 and recommended reads for children aged 11+.

If you would like to share your own story, please get in touch with Nadya Bettioui, Our Time Voices Project Lead: nadya.bettioui@ourtimecharity.org.uk