Member Review
Review by
Karen B, Reviewer
A story of hope over heartbreak told with Irish humour and charm.
For friends Caroline, Janet, Natalie and Ronnie, motherhood is a distant dream. They meet at a self-help group for women desperate for a baby, and soon form a close-knit bond, supporting each other not just through the perils and pitfalls of IVF treatment, miscarriages and artificial insemination, but also though the emotional fallout their constantly dashed dreams have on their relationships with partners and family.
Caroline’s husband Dave feels second-best. Janet suspects her husband of having an affair, and Natalie is beginning to believe her partner, Linda, isn’t fully committed to a baby. Ronnie, meanwhile, keeps her reasons for joining the group secret.
As their stories unfold, another is told, that of 17-year-old Catherine, single, pregnant and at the mercy of the nuns in the Irish convent where she is sent to give birth in 1976. Like our present-day heroines, she is determined to be a mother, and fights tooth and nail for her child in the face of her family’s indifference and society’s cruel disapproval.
This story takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, from sharing the heartache and hopes of Caroline and her fellow mums-in-waiting, to experiencing Catherine’s anguish and heartbreak as she realises she is truly on her own in her battle against authority. And yet you’ll be laughing through your tears at the sharp and funny dialogue as the narrative toggles between past and present, exposing the disgraceful history of how single mothers were once treated while exploring how, even in our times, achieving happiness through motherhood isn’t ever easy for too many women.
For friends Caroline, Janet, Natalie and Ronnie, motherhood is a distant dream. They meet at a self-help group for women desperate for a baby, and soon form a close-knit bond, supporting each other not just through the perils and pitfalls of IVF treatment, miscarriages and artificial insemination, but also though the emotional fallout their constantly dashed dreams have on their relationships with partners and family.
Caroline’s husband Dave feels second-best. Janet suspects her husband of having an affair, and Natalie is beginning to believe her partner, Linda, isn’t fully committed to a baby. Ronnie, meanwhile, keeps her reasons for joining the group secret.
As their stories unfold, another is told, that of 17-year-old Catherine, single, pregnant and at the mercy of the nuns in the Irish convent where she is sent to give birth in 1976. Like our present-day heroines, she is determined to be a mother, and fights tooth and nail for her child in the face of her family’s indifference and society’s cruel disapproval.
This story takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, from sharing the heartache and hopes of Caroline and her fellow mums-in-waiting, to experiencing Catherine’s anguish and heartbreak as she realises she is truly on her own in her battle against authority. And yet you’ll be laughing through your tears at the sharp and funny dialogue as the narrative toggles between past and present, exposing the disgraceful history of how single mothers were once treated while exploring how, even in our times, achieving happiness through motherhood isn’t ever easy for too many women.
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