Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Mummy Needs Help by Susan Edmunds.
About the Author
Susan Edmunds is a business journalist by day and a fiction scribbler by night. She lives in Whangarei, New Zealand. Most of her non-work writing relates to motherhood and the crazy experience of being left to take care of a child when you have no real idea what you’re doing. When she gets the chance at some time off, she spends time with her children, exercises and tries to tackle her sleep deficit.
About the book
Can you go mad from sleep deprivation? Will my mother ever leave? Will the baby sleep through the night before she turns twenty-one?
Renee is struggling to get to grips with having a totally dependent new-born. Luckily for her there is a Facebook group of new mums who welcome her with open arms and assurances that she might sleep again … one day.
Whilst Renee finds a safe space for questions and confessions, all hubby Nick can see is how easily she seems to be adapting to parenthood: a world in which he still feels adrift. Work is beginning to be the place he feels most at home.
As her daughter reaches the age where she can finally have a solo shower, Renee realises it’s been months since she’s had a baby-free discussion with Nick, let alone a date night. The question remains: will their marriage survive the storm?
Review
Renee is prepared for the sunshine filled dreamy sleepy mornings, household bliss, a fantastic relationship as the two of them become a new family of three. Nobody mentioned the tiny humans won't sleep, puke everywhere, your body needs at least a year to recover and your relationship might break like a brittle twig.
If there is one thing that will stay with me after this read it's that part of me feels sorry for 21st century mothers, especially new ones. I suppose it's a bit like being stood on a large field with your baby and being pelted from every direction with 'good' advice by family, friends and strangers.
It's been a few decades since I was in that position and I'm glad I wasn't able to google every hiccup and illness. I think I had a book or two, my mother and the health clinic where I took my babies for weighing and vaccinations. Other than that it was just me, the baby and the empty Mojave desert - oh and occasionally my hubby. Trust yourself, your instincts, and if you ask for help and don't get it - find another source of help.
Side note - all of mine survived and made it successfully to adulthood.
Although I can imagine plenty of readers finding this read amusing, I was struck by the fear, anxiety and genuine insecurity woven into the story. Is this the way society is making women feel when they embark on the most painful, exhausting and often terrifying part of their lives, when or if they choose the role of mother? Society should be trying harder to support not judge, to encourage not diminish and to make motherhood less of a competitive sport.
Edmunds delivers an engrossing contemporary read on the stress of a new baby and the strain it can put on a relationship. A story a lot of readers will be able to relate to.
If there is one thing that will stay with me after this read it's that part of me feels sorry for 21st century mothers, especially new ones. I suppose it's a bit like being stood on a large field with your baby and being pelted from every direction with 'good' advice by family, friends and strangers.
It's been a few decades since I was in that position and I'm glad I wasn't able to google every hiccup and illness. I think I had a book or two, my mother and the health clinic where I took my babies for weighing and vaccinations. Other than that it was just me, the baby and the empty Mojave desert - oh and occasionally my hubby. Trust yourself, your instincts, and if you ask for help and don't get it - find another source of help.
Side note - all of mine survived and made it successfully to adulthood.
Although I can imagine plenty of readers finding this read amusing, I was struck by the fear, anxiety and genuine insecurity woven into the story. Is this the way society is making women feel when they embark on the most painful, exhausting and often terrifying part of their lives, when or if they choose the role of mother? Society should be trying harder to support not judge, to encourage not diminish and to make motherhood less of a competitive sport.
Edmunds delivers an engrossing contemporary read on the stress of a new baby and the strain it can put on a relationship. A story a lot of readers will be able to relate to.
Buy Mummy Needs Help at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: One More Chapter; pub date 10 April 2020. Buy at Amazon com.
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