All the Other Mothers Hate Me - by Sarah Harman (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Luckiest Girl Alive meets A Simple Favor in this voice driven, stylish, and darkly comedic debut thriller about a pop star turned bad mom who will do anything to save her son after he becomes the prime suspect in his classmate's disappearance, from the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Prize for Fiction."--

Book Synopsis

A mom will do anything to save her kid. Anything.

"The missing boy is 10-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he's a little shit."

Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son's bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can't quit: She's got to find Alfie and clear her son's name, or risk losing Dylan forever.

The only problem? Florence has no useful skills, let alone investigative ones, and all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and Florence has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she'd like to believe...

Review Quotes

Everyone's talking about Florence!

As seen in
Real Simple - NPR, Books We Love 2025 - Marie Claire - Glamour - CrimeReads - New York Post - TIME Magazine - Reader's Digest - BookPage - Jordy's Book Club

"If you like quirky characters, scrappy fighters, and a high dose of hijinks, this is your cup of tea! Who am I kidding? This book is everyone's cup of tea." --CrimeReads

"A biting, twisty, utter delight." --Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women

"A smirking thriller that never threatens to take itself too seriously." --NPR

"Put this at the top of your To-Be-Read list!" --Liv Constantine, New York Times bestselling author of The Next Mrs. Parrish

"Part social comedy, part thriller. . . . Harman pulls it off." --Wall Street Journal

"Ruefully funny and mildly disturbing." --Oprah Daily

"Plenty of dark humor, and more than a little biting social commentary. . . . If twisty, voice-driven novels like First Lie Wins and Listen for the Lie are your jam, then make room on the shelf for this cracking debut." --Amazon Book Review

"Hilarious and poignant and absolutely unique. It's Bridget Jones meets Daisy Jones.​" --Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The Other Woman

"Nonstop entertainment, a hilarious and biting story of redemption." --Real Simple

"Imagine Big Little Lies after one too many glasses of wine, stumbling into a whodunit. . . . Harman's writing is razor-sharp, blending biting, dark humor with genuine tension." --Seattle Times

"A sharply insightful page-turner." --Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Like Mother, Like Daughter

"Comedy and crime don't always mix, but they do perfectly here." --Marie Claire

"Darkly funny, irresistibly suspenseful. And this novel has voice for days." --Clémence Michallon, internationally bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant

"Florence is my new favorite agent of chaos--I loved her snarky-but-true observations, hilarious misadventures, and fierce love for her son. Impossible to put down." --Kristen Perrin, nationally bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder

"Must-read. . . . a frothy, fun read that goes down easy while getting at some hard truths." --The Cut/Book Gossip newsletter

"A funny whodunit with incisive commentary. . . . Ripe for a debate on what makes a 'good' or 'bad' mom, and entertaining to boot." --Glamour

"It's no easy feat to write an equally comical and compelling novel about a missing child, but Sarah Harman accomplishes just that " --BookPage (starred review)

"A mix of Catastrophe and Fleabag with a dash of Nancy Drew." --The Nerd Daily

"A dramatic, fast-paced read." --Reader's Digest

"If you like quirky characters, scrappy fighters, and a high dose of hijinks, this is your cup of tea! Who am I kidding? This book is everyone's cup of tea." --CrimeReads

"A hilarious, well-plotted thriller that goes racing through the streets of London, powered by frantic maternal desperation." --Shelf Awareness

"Snarky, wildly entertaining." --Fresh Fiction

"Funny, heartwarming and readable." --Daily Mail

"A zany romp featuring a less-than-perfect character readers will root for." --Booklist

"An absolute riot with a razor sharp sense of humor and unyielding suspense." --Rachel Koller Croft, author of We Love the Nightlife and Stone Cold Fox

"Delicious, wicked, and darkly funny, a wild ride you wish would never end." --Sash Bischoff, author of Sweet Fury

"Truly one of a kind." --Caitlin Mullen, author of Please See Us

"An absolute gem." --Katy Hays, author of The Cloisters

"Pure delight in book form. Readers everywhere will be rooting for Florence from start to finish." --Saumya Dave, author of The Guilt Pill

"Everything about this book is unique and exciting, most especially the outrageous narrator. . . . Pure comedic gold." --firstClue newsletter

About the Author

Sarah Harman is an American living in London. She worked most recently as a foreign correspondent for NBC News, reporting on-air for Today, Nightly News, and MSNBC. She's a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her debut novel All the Other Mothers Hate Me won the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize in 2023.