Welcome to a year in the life of Liz. A mother of two living in London (or near London, not quite clear on that one). All she wants is five minutes of peace away from her husband who will not stop talking, and her children. Plus all the stuff that comes with those things: being the one to remember everything, signing up to volunteer for school events, especially when ‘volunteering’ means being strong armed by the local Mean Girl mum (the one who’s always perfectly put together and whose kids have trendy made up names). Every now and then she gets together with her ‘coven’ of other mums to feel normal and drink wine and share mothering war wounds. Perhaps share advice. Like what to do when your kid gets threadworms or is being bullied.
This is a very warm, funny, quick read. It’s told in diary form and spans one year as Liz navigates school and holidays while working and desperately trying to arrange childcare. If you happen to be a 40+ something mother of two who is also British you might relate incredibly hard to everything. Sometimes it feels like the author has been spying on my life a little. But it’s not totally flippant, there’s some really lovely moments about what it feels like to be a mother, especially mentally, and how much you worry about the kids and the future (Liz is a borderline prepper in her own mind, ready for the apocalypse).
If there’s anything to be wary of, it’s that the book has no plot. It has zero stakes, there’s no inciting event. Not much happens, except the day-to-day continuation of life. I did struggle with that at the beginning, because I have no attention span and need something to keep me going, but once I’d settled into it, it was just nice to spend time with Liz and her family and friends, and have a good laugh.