I found this a very interesting and at times hard-hitting read. I had no trouble turning the pages and read it in a couple of days. The plot is compelling: Liz, a paediatrician, is working when her friend Jess’s baby is admitted to hospital after an accident and it takes a while for the truth to emerge. Did Jess injure her child? The novel is sad in places and it’s easy to relate to the mothers who, for different reasons, are struggling. It’s a very well-written, contemporary and believable novel with an important message. Overworked Liz makes several discoveries. She has an interesting and difficult childhood to overcome before she can move on. Great characters and an absorbing plot. Definitely recommended!

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal but Little Disasters is even better. I think many readers will relate to the issues that Sarah Vaughan's characters experience especially mothers of young children.

We are introduced to a group of mothers including Jess, a SAH mum with 3 children and her friend, Liz, a paediatrician with 2. When Betsy, Jess's baby, suffers an accident and is brought into Liz's hospital she is torn by a decision she has to take. But why has Jess waited before taking her baby to be checked? There is a huge fall out as a consequence and we are shown some complex and emotional issues covering motherhood, marriage and mental health in the ensuing story.

All the characters are believable, from Liz, Jess and her husband Ed, to Frankie, their son. The writing is beautiful and the story page-turning. I cannot recommend Little Disasters highly enough although it may prove distressing in places.

It will be one of my favourite books for 2020. Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK.

Quite a heartfelt story of a group of women, brought together by the birth of their first children. How their lives differ, and individual struggles never shown to the outside world. Talk about secrets and lies!

Very well written the book really makes you wonder about the lives of this group of friends. Heartwrenching at times.

This book is incredibly well written and gripping from the get go.

I really loved Sarah Vaughn’s last book Anatomy of a Scandal and this book was just as good.

The book is incredibly well paced and when you think everything is getting wrapped up two further unexpected plot twists unravel which made for fantastic reading.

5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

Secrets and lies. Friendship and motherhood. In this follow-up to the stunning Anatomy Of A Scandal, Sarah Vaughan is once again on sparkling form in this story of a group of friends who were brought together at ante-natal classes and have stayed in touch with varying degrees of intimacy ever since. Revelations throughout the novel are breath-taking and the story is beautifully told with the principal characters beautifully drawn. Another triumph!

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal, and Little Disasters is another great thriller from Sarah Vaughan. The novel tells the story of Liz, a paediatrician and mother of two, and Jess, a woman who is struggling to cope following the birth of her third child. The plot centres around the circumstances of Jess’s baby daughter Betsey being admitted to hospital with a head injury, and Jess finds herself under suspicion. Liz is faced with an ethical dilemma around what to do, and throughout the book also deals with the impact of her own childhood and difficult relationship with her mother. I found the characters likeable and intriguing.

This book explores some complex, emotive and perhaps taboo issues relating to motherhood and child-parent relationships. One theme that runs throughout is mothers who harm - or feel like harming - their babies, and underlying conditions such as post-natal depression and OCD. There is also a recurring theme of “not being good enough mothers.” Sarah Vaughan deals with these topics in a sensitive and compassionate way in how they are told through the experiences and voices of the characters.

The novel is compelling with a brilliantly controlled plot, and moves between the past and present in a way that kept me in suspense as layers of the story unfolded. I was torn between wanting to finish the book to find out what happened, and not wanting to finish it as I was enjoying it so much. The first twist towards the end was a shocker, and then along came another in the last chapter! What made this book so creepy, sad and terrifying in places is that it’s set in the lives of ordinary characters that gave it a real sense of it “could happen to anyone.”

I enjoyed everything about this novel and highly recommended it to readers who enjoy domestic noir psychological thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my personal review. #LittleDisasters #NetGalley

“ I mutter something about motherhood being much undervalued. That I couldn’t do what she’s doing and stay at home with the children; that it’s the hardest job in the world. ‘No one tells you that, do they?’ she says, her face just that bit too close. She wants me to understand this. ‘You think you’ll learn from your parents’ mistakes, that you’ll be a completely different mother to your mother, but no one tells you how hard it is.”

Like old age, motherhood is not for sissies. This is another scrupulously researched and insightful novel from Sarah Vaughan. She tells it like it really is, with a viscerally depicted scene of a difficult birth and its psychological consequences. The message behind the narrative is that good parenting doesn't always come naturally – and how so much depends on the role models we have acquired from our own parents.
Highly recommended for parents, would-be parents and non-parents alike.

This book had me gripped from the very start. Fantastic story, brilliantly written, and an ending that I did not see coming. Definitely worth a read.

Little Disasters is bloody fantastic! It’s emotional, dark and devastating. I couldn’t put this book down!

The characters couldn’t be realer, I felt a connection to most and thought they were written brilliantly. I haven’t read a plot like this before either (and that’s rare for me to say). Just get it bought and read ASAP!

Sorry but this book wasn't for me, couldn't get into the story line or the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I enjoyed this story and felt that it was an interesting view contrasting the effect of the baby's accident on the parents but also on the doctor who has to treat the patient - and the effect on her relationships. She is a friend of the family and has to deal with the inevitable flak.

The story is an examination of the stress placed on a family when coping with a newborn and the need to present as a competent parent. I felt that it was closely observed and as the plot progresses it developed the theme to look at the behaviours of other families within the friendship group.
There is an interesting twist at the end of the book and the effects on the children is also considered.
Recommended

Absolutely fantastic loved all the characters it shows what struggles women go through after childbirth and how mental health affects not just the person but everyone around them

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal and was very excited to have been sent an advanced copy of Sarah Vaughan's new novel - and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Very different subject matter which I thought was great and showed how talented this author is.

Liz and Jess have been friends for ten years, since they both had a baby at the same time.

One day Jess arrives at hospital with a story that doesn’t add up, and Liz is the doctor on call.
Jess has many secrets and over the course of the book they begin to emerge, And Liz has to ask herself how well she actually knows Jess - and herself.

The characters are very well developed, so is the story line. I also really enjoyed the back and forth between the past and the present.

Like anatomy of a scandal, I would definitely recommend this book.

I loved Anatomy of Scandal and I was so excited to get my mitts on an advance e-copy of Sarah Vaughan's new novel - and I wasn't disappointed!

Anatomy of Scandal was going to be a tough novel to beat - timely, gripping and emotional - but Vaughan has knocked it out of the field again with Little Disasters. I might even go so far as to say it's better. This novel is gripping, timely and emotional again - but the plot and the characters and the reality it portrayed was so real, I had to hold back tears and put down the novel from time to time - but mostly I read it in one big greedy gulp.

Liz is an overworked paediatric A+E consultant in a busy London hospital. When her close friend Jess comes in with a sick baby, Liz has to put their relationship to one side to think about what may - or may not have happened to baby Betsy. As secrets in Liz' childhood come to light, so do secrets in the present day. Shining a light on the hidden side of motherhood, of what we ask from mothers, of how much of their work is solitary and relentless, this novel is an absolute must-read.

I absolutely loved this book. An emotional, devastating story which has been brilliantly researched - the characters of both Liz and Jess feel so true to life I was captivated. This is a story that every woman will be able to identify with, exploring the darker sides of motherhood that aren't talked about enough. A wonderful book that left me thinking about it for days afterwards.

This is another excellent book by Sarah Vaughan. The writing style is superb which makes you continue to think about this book long after you’ve finished it.
The topics are hard hitting and quickly draw you in. I’d strongly recommend this book, it’s a great read.

Yet another amazing read from this very talented author. A highly enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal yet it was great to have a slight change of direction in the next novel from sarah Vaughan and bravo for publishing and editorial and author herself not opting for easy option in following same premise.
Instead we have a really insightful, heartbreakingly accurate delve into motherhood whilst still mainintaing a thriller / drama type angle. Liz is a hospital doctor who is put in the really awkward position of being on call when her friends baby is admitted..... and it looks like the baby might have been harmed by her mother.
A brilliant exploration into female friendships which are formed during those ante natal class days, into family inequalities and the parental burden particularly taken on by women and the impact on mental health that isn’t talked about enough. Getting into maternal OCD and intrusive thoughts not easy to cover so sensitively in a faced laced gripping novel.. and that’s why the author rally deserves all the praise for this one.

Loved it.

Absolutely loved the previous novel by this talented author, and this book was no exception. Incredibly developed characters and a fascinating storyline make this a must read. Highly recommended.

Little Disasters’ by Sarah Vaughan is a really gripping read in so many ways. When baby Betsey is brought to A&E by her devoted middle-class yummy mummy, Jess, and a fractured skull is diagnosed by her friend Liz, a paediatric doctor on duty that evening, a great deal begins to unravel.
Over the course of the novel, Sarah Vaughan explores the intensity of the mother-child relationship and how this pressure can affect the carer in different ways. Whilst loving their children unconditionally, some mothers also find refuge in work; some relive the pressure by joking about the unremitting hard work that is bringing up a child; others bury their frustrations, determined to be Instagram mum, to have these eventually erupt, like blood spurting from a main artery. The characters populating this novel are totally believable, not least because of Vaughan’s ability to capture the dialogue between the women, with their partners and their children so well. The plot moves back and forth from the past to the present and from one perspective to another and the overall story is stronger because of this. One small quibble: part of the plot, exposed by the final reveal, mars the overall effect by feeling somewhat sensationalist in a world which is, otherwise, extremely plausible.
Because the author also develops the story of Liz’s troubled childhood, we are also reminded of how memories may be pushed away but that scars are always left when a child has not been lovingly nurtured. Whilst there is an element of ‘whodunnit’ in ‘Little Disasters’, this novel is far more than a psychological thriller and anyone who only reads it as such is missing the point. Real life is messy, not a series of carefully honed, uploaded Boden moments. Nevertheless, Vaughan also suggests that honest relationships, true friendship and the importance of listening to what your children have to say goes a very long way to creating a worthwhile family life. An important novel for our times.
My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.