Shortlisted for the Man Booker PrizeWinner of the South Bank Literature Award'So good - so fantastically well-written, profound and humane . . . it is heart-stopping' - ObserverThe once illustrious, once wealthy Melroses are in peril. Caught up in the wreckage of broken promises, child-rearing, adultery and assisted suicide, Patrick finds his wife Mary consumed by motherhood, his mother in thrall to a New Age foundation, and his young son Robert understanding far more than he should. But even as the family struggles against the pull of its ever-present past, a new generation brings a new tenderness, and the possibility of change.'Wonderful caustic wit . . . Polished yet profound, it's even better than his previous work, and that's saying something' - The Guardian 'Mother's Milk has the cerebral excitement and piercing funniness of St Aubyn at his brilliant best' - TatlerPart of the Picador Collection