The daughter stands in her mother’s flat. She has suddenly passed away, is gone, and so are all her savings. What remains are questions: Why is the flat so messy, the letterbox so full? And how is it even possible to lose your own mother to a con artist?

Sarah Kuttner tells the story of a woman who was looking for love and encountered a love scammer. She fell in love and turned a blind eye. She left nothing behind except a seemingly endless chat with the imposter. Above all, however, it is the story of a daughter who is left behind with a hole where her mother once was. So the daughter reads the messages that were not meant for her, reads things about herself that she never wanted to know. And yet, very slowly, the emptiness fills with an intimacy that was not possible for the two of them during their shared lifetime.

In Mama & Sam, Sarah Kuttner describes exceptional circumstance that is not so very uncommon – feelings of guilt, the pain of being left behind, and the unwanted intimacy of an inheritance.