The Self-Made Saint

Judith Drainger moves from London to Adelaide, Australia, at the age of 59 following two major life changes: the death of her domineering mother, Marigold, and her divorce. It’s a big adjustment, but Judith has been known to make such leaps before—years earlier, she sent her daughter, Cassandra, to boarding school and picked up and moved to Dadaab, Kenya, to work as a volunteer English teacher. A do-gooder by nature (or so it seems), Judith decides it’s time to reconnect with Cassandra, who is now married to an Australian dentist named Andrew. Cassandra has just given birth to a daughter of her own, and Judith is convinced she needs her help. When Judith arrives, Cassandra reacts coolly to her mother’s intrusion and Judith struggles to hide her judgment of her daughter’s decisions, her weight, and her husband. The colorful cast of characters includes the busybody Martha Thompson and her philandering husband, Paul; their delinquent foster son, Billy; and the curmudgeonly, old next-door neighbor, Gladys, whom Judith also decides to help. Addams’ novel is an effective character study of Judith, whose altruism hides a sense of self-importance and a tendency toward selfishness. The dialogue is sharp and subtle—there’s a moment when Cassandra denigrates Judith’s new home (as a “horrible cottage”) that seems to suggest some deeper underlying tensions stemming from being carted off to boarding school while her mother left to work in Kenya—and Addams’ prose is capable and direct. While there are a lot of moving pieces in the novel, including Judith’s own strained relationship with her mother, the narrative strands effectively come together to convey an affecting family drama about the ways in which people overstep their boundaries, or neglect them entirely, under the veneer of saintliness.

Jun 26, 2025 - 06:06

Judith Drainger moves from London to Adelaide, Australia, at the age of 59 following two major life changes: the death of her domineering mother, Marigold, and her divorce. It’s a big adjustment, but Judith has been known to make such leaps before—years earlier, she sent her daughter, Cassandra, to boarding school and picked up and moved to Dadaab, Kenya, to work as a volunteer English teacher. A do-gooder by nature (or so it seems), Judith decides it’s time to reconnect with Cassandra, who is now married to an Australian dentist named Andrew. Cassandra has just given birth to a daughter of her own, and Judith is convinced she needs her help. When Judith arrives, Cassandra reacts coolly to her mother’s intrusion and Judith struggles to hide her judgment of her daughter’s decisions, her weight, and her husband. The colorful cast of characters includes the busybody Martha Thompson and her philandering husband, Paul; their delinquent foster son, Billy; and the curmudgeonly, old next-door neighbor, Gladys, whom Judith also decides to help. Addams’ novel is an effective character study of Judith, whose altruism hides a sense of self-importance and a tendency toward selfishness. The dialogue is sharp and subtle—there’s a moment when Cassandra denigrates Judith’s new home (as a “horrible cottage”) that seems to suggest some deeper underlying tensions stemming from being carted off to boarding school while her mother left to work in Kenya—and Addams’ prose is capable and direct. While there are a lot of moving pieces in the novel, including Judith’s own strained relationship with her mother, the narrative strands effectively come together to convey an affecting family drama about the ways in which people overstep their boundaries, or neglect them entirely, under the veneer of saintliness.