I had the same feeling reading this as I did Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum. It is very special. Related in the different voices of the three generations of women living together through one momentous year, it has a north country lilt and an infectious style that really captures the period, for although we only travel a contemporary year, in reflection and flashbacks we travel some three-quarters of a century. Life, circumstances, attitudes and issues change but the spirit of family remains across the generations. I cannot praise it highly enough.
Comparisons: Kate Atkinson, Anita Shreve, Marika Cobbold.
| Primary Genre | Family Drama |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
The Bad Mother's Handbook is the story of a year in the lives of Charlotte, Karen, and Nan, none of whom can quite believe how things have turned out. Why is it all so difficult? Why do the most ridiculous mistakes have the most disastrous consequences? When are you too old to throw up in a flowerbed after too much vodka? When are you too young to be a mother? Both hilarious and wise, it is a clear-eyed look at motherhood - and childhood - in its many guises, from the moment the condom breaks to the moment you file for divorce or, more optimistically, from the moment you hear your baby's first cry to the moment you realize that there are as many sorts of mother as there are children, and that love sometimes is the most important thing of all.
The Bad Mother's Handbook features in the following genres: Family Drama, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, General Fiction, Recommendations
The Bad Mother's Handbook is available in Paperback
The Bad Mother's Handbook was written by Kate Long and published by Pan Macmillan
