So many times as a reader I was longing for someone to throw Blythe a lifeline, for someone to put a stop to the pretence that motherhood is easy, that it is some kind of competition, with winners and losers, and nothing in between. There is a tangible sense of anger to this thread. She explores the very real sense of loss of self and identify, the changes to a relationship. How society throws a blanket of perfection over motherhood, and perpetuates the lie of it being an inherent and natural process for all women regardless of age, background or personality.Īudrain acknowledges the weight of change that a baby brings to marriage and to a women’s life. How giving birth can equate to a lack of control, control that is impossible to claw back. Through Blythe we feel the weight of expectation felt by new mothers. Audrain lays bare traditional expectations and experiences. From the outset there is an acknowledgement of how much physically and mentally motherhood can cost a woman.īlythe might be the central character of this story, but her past experiences all feed into her narrative and her own experiences as a mother. The extreme highs and the dark lows this is a story that is bound up in pushing the boundaries on that institution that society holds so dear, a story that probes at the edges of relationships and bonds.įrom the first pages of this book the reader is challenged, you are pulled in and immediately find yourself dissecting the narrative and undertones of the story. It examines every angle, every nook and cranny. In essence this book is about motherhood. Her narrative is told in the first person, it feels as if she speaks directly to you. The main focus of the novel is Blythe and her own experiences as a mother and a daughter and how these are interlinked. Their narratives are woven throughout the novel. So what is the book about? Well in it’s simplest, most descriptive form it is the tale of three generations of mothers and daughters.
So incredible I wrote literally pages and pages of notes and have sat quaking since then, wondering how on earth I am going to write a review to convey what this book provoked in me as I read it.īut the time has come, this book is released in January by Michael Joseph Books and I need to add my voice to the chorus already predicting it’s deserved success. I knew from all the accolades it was receiving on Twitter it was going to be good so I stashed it away for my half term holidays and waited. Back in the early autumn Amanda sent a truly incredible book my way.
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