Author Guide · Literary Fiction
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Meg Mason grew up in what she calls “a very ordinary town in New Zealand”, moved to London at 22 and started in journalism at the Financial Times and The Times. She went on to write humour for The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and a column for GQ, and now lives in Sydney. Her second novel, Sorrow and Bliss, came out in Australia in 2020, reached the UK and US in 2021, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022 and has been translated into more than 30 languages. This guide covers her 4 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2012–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Meg Mason has published four books: the memoir Say It Again in a Nice Voice (2012) and three novels, You Be Mother (2017), Sorrow and Bliss (2020) and Sophie, Standing There (2026). Start with Sorrow and Bliss, the novel that was shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize. Read on for what each book is about and how they connect.
Where to Start with Meg Mason
If you want her defining book
→ Sorrow and Bliss (2020) — the 2022 Women’s Prize shortlisted novel.
If you want her newest novel
→ Sophie, Standing There (2026) — a lonely woman, a festival job and a favourite author.
If you want her first novel
→ You Be Mother (2017) — a young mother alone in Sydney.
If you want her early non-fiction
→ Say It Again in a Nice Voice (2012).
All 4 Meg Mason Books, in Order
Say It Again in a Nice Voice
Her first book, a memoir of early motherhood published by HarperCollins in Australia. It came out of the humour writing she was doing for newspapers and magazines at the time, before she turned to fiction.
You Be Mother
Abi, who has always wanted a proper family, gets pregnant by Stu, an Australian exchange student, and follows him from Croydon to Sydney with their baby, Jude. Stu turns out not to be ready to be a father. Lonely in a new city, Abi becomes close to Phyllida, her wealthy and domineering older neighbour, but a small lie she told on their first day grows between them.
Sorrow and Bliss
Martha Friel, a writer approaching forty, has been told all her life that she is clever and beautiful, and has been loved every day of it; she also has an illness that began in her teens and that the book never names. When her husband Patrick leaves, she looks back over her family, her sister Ingrid and her marriage to work out what went wrong. Published in Australia in 2020 and in the UK and US in 2021, it was shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction and won at the 2022 British Book Awards. New Regency is adapting it for the screen.
Sophie, Standing There
Sophie Pattison, 37, works for a literary festival in London and lives alone in the flat her ex-husband Paul rents her for almost nothing, estranged from her best friend and avoiding her brother Laurie. Her comfort is the work of the novelist Lilac Dunne, and when a festival mishap leads to dinner with her, Sophie’s life starts to open up again. Real writers, among them Mick Herron and Elizabeth Strout, make appearances. Mason launched it in Sydney in August 2026; Harper published it in the US on 29 September 2026.
In What Order to Read Meg Mason
None of Mason’s books continue from one another: each novel has its own characters, so you can read them in any order. Most readers come to her through Sorrow and Bliss, and it is the best place to begin.
If you like it, go next to Sophie, Standing There, which Mason has said she wrote to be different from Sorrow and Bliss, with a more cheerful main character. You Be Mother and the memoir show where her mix of comedy and family sadness started.
A reading path
1. Sorrow and Bliss (2020)
2. Sophie, Standing There (2026)
3. You Be Mother (2017)
4. Say It Again in a Nice Voice (2012)
The years · 2012–2026
Quick facts about Meg Mason
- Known for
- Meg Mason is known for writing about mental illness, marriage and family with a humour writer’s timing, above all in Sorrow and Bliss.
- 2012
- First book, a memoir of early motherhood
- 2017
- First novel, You Be Mother
- 2020
- Sorrow and Bliss
- 2022
- Women’s Prize shortlist
- 2026
- Sophie, Standing There
- Born
- New Zealand; moved to London at 22
- Lives
- Sydney, with her husband and two daughters
- Journalism
- Financial Times, The Times; later Vogue, ELLE, GQ and The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts
- Books
- One memoir and three novels
- Honours
- Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2022; British Book Awards winner, 2022
- Translations
- Sorrow and Bliss in more than 30 languages
The red mark is 2020: Sorrow and Bliss, first published in Australia that year.
How Meg Mason Writes: Comedy Close to Sorrow
Mason came to fiction from humour writing, for Sunday STYLE, GQ and The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts. She has said she had “always written humour, and that seemed like something I wasn’t allowed to do” in a serious novel. Her novels keep the jokes anyway: Sorrow and Bliss is about a woman with a lifelong mental illness and a failing marriage, and is also full of family comedy.
Her central characters are women whose lives have shrunk: Abi alone with a baby in Sydney, Martha after Patrick leaves, Sophie living alone in her ex-husband’s flat. Each book is about the families and friendships they have against the ones they wanted. In Sorrow and Bliss she leaves Martha’s diagnosis unnamed, so the book is about living with an illness rather than about a label.
She has also said she went wrong with earlier manuscripts “because I was writing what I thought I should be writing”. Sorrow and Bliss, set in Britain but written in Sydney, became a word-of-mouth bestseller. Sophie, Standing There turns to the book world itself, with real authors in walk-on parts.
Frequently asked questions about Meg Mason’s books
How many books has Meg Mason written?
Four: the memoir Say It Again in a Nice Voice (2012) and three novels, You Be Mother (2017), Sorrow and Bliss (2020) and Sophie, Standing There (2026).
What are Meg Mason’s books in order?
Say It Again in a Nice Voice (2012), You Be Mother (2017), Sorrow and Bliss (2020) and Sophie, Standing There (2026).
Where should I start with Meg Mason?
With Sorrow and Bliss (2020), her best-known novel. Her books are not a series, so you can read the others in any order afterwards.
What is Meg Mason’s most famous book?
Sorrow and Bliss. First published in Australia in 2020, it became an international bestseller, was translated into more than 30 languages and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022.
Did Sorrow and Bliss win the Women’s Prize?
No. It was shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It did win at the 2022 British Book Awards.
What illness does Martha have in Sorrow and Bliss?
Mason never names it. Martha’s illness begins in her teens and shapes her whole adult life, but the diagnosis is left out of the text, so the novel stays on what living with it is like.
Is Sorrow and Bliss being made into a film or series?
Yes. It is being adapted for the screen by New Regency, the US studio behind Little Women, Birdman and Bohemian Rhapsody. No release date has been announced.
Is Sophie, Standing There a sequel to Sorrow and Bliss?
No. It is a separate novel with new characters: Sophie Pattison, who works for a London literary festival and finds company in the novels of a writer called Lilac Dunne. Mason has said she wanted to write something different from Sorrow and Bliss.
Where is Meg Mason from?
She was born in New Zealand, moved to London at 22 to work in journalism, and now lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.
Footnotes
- About — Meg Mason (official site)
- Meg Mason — Women’s Prize
- My Life in Books: Meg Mason — SheerLuxe, 2022
- Sophie, Standing There — Kirkus Reviews
- Meg Mason: Sophie, Standing There — Sydney Writers’ Festival
- Meg Mason — WORD Christchurch
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I wrote this book with no ambition other than to write it.”
— Meg Mason, on Sorrow and Bliss, interview with SheerLuxe (2022)
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