Motherhood, monstrosity, and doppelgängers: An interview with author Tiffany Tsao about her novel ‘But Won’t I Miss Me’

In Tiffany Tsao’s new novel But Won’t I Miss Me, we’re invited into a world slightly off-kilter from our own. At first, our protagonist Vivi’s life seems relatively normal, though tough — she’s a new, single mother to a son named Cloud; she has a day job refurbishing old equipment. Motherhood, to Vivi, is not a walk in the park. But slowly we realise the way this world differs from our own: it’s one in which motherhood involves a process called “rebirth,” where new mothers are replaced — eaten — by an identical but superhuman self, one perfectly equipped to deal with the tough work of early parenting. Vivi lives in fear of this replacement — and when her rebirth goes wrong, she must navigate a new, scary world.