Natural Disaster

by Lisa Owens

One perfect day. A million catastrophes.

For weeks, she has been saying it will be their special day. One last, perfect day with her children before she returns to work after maternity leave.

What's the worst that can happen?

Unfolding across 24 hours, Natural Disaster is a propulsive, darkly funny and sharply observed novel about the absurd, frustrating, hilarious, precarious, bittersweet, sometimes astonishing challenge - literal, existential - of being a woman, a mother, a wife, a person for one single, entire day.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult, Family, Adult Fiction, Audiobook

208 pages, Hardcover

Published June 25, 2026

Reviews

[❀ Tia ❀]

| ARC REVIEW |

For weeks she has counted down to this day — the final day of maternity leave. This is the day that has to be perfect. The day that will be perfect, because she has it all meticulously planned out. And everything in motherhood always goes to plan... right?

Natural Disaster not only accurately portrays motherhood in all its chaotic and overwhelming glory, but also does a fantastic job of normalising the aspects that some parents are often too embarrassed to talk about.

To me, motherhood is the gift that keeps on giving: unconditional love, the overwhelming sense of pride you get when you look at your children, but also the anxiety, the guilt, and the isolation that often ensues. All of which I feel to various degrees throughout the day.

However, this book took me by the shoulders, shook me hard and shouted "it's not you, it's all of us! This is MOTHERHOOD! And you're doing a damn good job!"

I truly felt that this book was holding my hand whilst I read it. The way Lisa Owens was able to write about the messy aspects of being a mother in such a raw, authentic and quite frankly hilarious manner was remarkable! I laughed, I teared up, and I felt seen.

My only criticism (if you can even call it that) is that I really wish this book was longer! I didn't want my lovely, comforting hand hold through motherhood's chaos to end. 

Once this book is published, you can bet that I will be recommending it to the women in my "mother and baby" group, as well as anyone else I know who is in the throes of motherhood.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Owens and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Virago for gifting this eBook in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

❀ Tia ❀

[Erin]

Sometimes I read a book, and it triggers my anxiety level. I might not be in the same situation as the character, but I don't want to be in their life any longer.

On her final day of maternity leave, our main protagonist, a mother of two precocious little boys, is determined to make the most of the day. But with her husband away on a work trip, these final 24 hours at home only heighten her guilt about returning to work while trying to maintain the illusion of a perfect family life.

Lisa Owens created a relatable and realistic contemporary drama. Maybe so realistic that I just wanted to "jump ship" and leave our protagonist to it. Also, her oldest child really made me want to lock myself in a room and scream. Toddlers are never happy, are they?? I feel my mother and sister-in-law should have medals of valour. I described this plot to a friend, and she told me to stop because it was giving her war-like flashbacks.

Maybe this isn't the type of story you want to gift the mothers in your life, but if they are telling you that you don't understand what they go through, this will be enlightening.

Publication Date 07/07/26
Goodreads review 13/08/26

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for access to this title. I am auto-approved by this publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Liz]

This is a difficult review for me to write as I felt I am too old to read about the coal face of motherhood, and times have changed so much since my time that I noticed that I couldn’t relate to the narrator. In fact, I found her very annoying, disorganised, overthinking, and too sensitive. Perhaps that’s how mothers are nowadays, with the internet and social media at their fingertips, ready to make them feel so inadequate.
But I did really enjoy the story, even with these reservations, though I sided with her mother re child rearing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

[Rebecca]

(2.5) Compared to Owens's very funny debut, Not Working, I found this a bit tedious and unoriginal. There's no shortage of novels reflecting on the challenges of early motherhood. I thought a point in this one's favour was that it takes place on a single day - the unnamed protagonist's final day of maternity leave after having her second son, Rudy - but that one day feels endless. Yes, no doubt that's part of the point: that hands-on care of young children makes time slow. However, if readers feel like the day is crawling along, with each gag belaboured (Rhyme Time at the library, the pram getting stuck in a convenience store doorway in the pouring rain, her being in a frog onesie when she has to take her son to hospital with suspected appendicitis), then something about the storytelling and humour just ... isn't working. I also thought the early affair scare about her husband and the late threat to the job she's returning to felt like rather desperate and thin attempts to vary the plot and add some intrigue. It may well be that those who have been through parenthood will appreciate this short novel, but the mark of true accomplishment is to make an experience come alive for those who haven't shared it in real life. [Also: terribly edited!]

[j]

This made me so anxious and was definitely not honeymoon reading

[Kimmy C]

Looking back after reading the book, it’s hard to realise that everything took place in a day - it’s the last day before her second lot of maternity leave finishes, it’s back to work, back to routine, and two children to settle into nursery the next morning, so she can reclaim her place in the world of the adults. Friends had said to relax, take a spa day, put the kids into childcare a day early - they won’t notice! But no, she’s feeling the pain of upcoming separation, and is determined to make this the best memory day ever! Except so many things happen to not make this happen.
Written so well - and although my three are well into adulthood, I remember the feelings, the constant chasing your tail, the being thwarted by circumstances beyond your control, all in the pursuit of being a Good Mum. The underlying threads of losing your identity (being referred to as ‘Mum’ by a doctor), relationships with your partner, the mental load of the household, and the difference in raising your first, then your second child are all covered warmly, and humorously.

[Stephen]

Wanting to make the last day of maternity leave special was a good way of exploring the pressures of motherhood.

The first half seemed like an extended critique of gentle parenting that felt frustrating at times, but the second half took a different direction.

The different ways mothers are treated by the public, partners, employers, shopkeepers, other mothers and of course their own children all had their spaces to be examined.

I don’t think this was saying that much that is unexpected and is mainly a way to watch someone have a chaotic day or be glad your life doesn’t give you days like this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Virago for the arc

[Maria]

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

The idea of Natural Disaster sounded like such a fun and relatable book. A woman decides to make her last day of maternity leave a “very special day” with her kids but it turns into a “what can go wrong will go wrong” day. Fun right, maybe a relatable and humorous look at motherhood?! incorrect.

I could not relate to this mother at all. This woman is so worried about achieving perfection in motherhood that she can’t cope with anything’s in the day to day. She has little to no confidence in herself as a mother, and she allows herself to be walked over by her children on nearly every page. She is permissive and accommodating to the enth degree in a way that was exhausting. She second guesses everything she does and her inner monologue wore me out. I am someone who has a lot of anxious thoughts and compared to this, I’m the calmest smooth brained woman on the planet.

Her relationship with her husband seems to be the age old issue of letting the role of “parent” usurp the role of husband and wife instead of keeping a relationship ship strong ao you can support each other while being parents.
Wife first then mother. Husband first then father. Their lack of communication and the wife’s “perceived” meanings taken from every normal comment her husband makes was tiresome and frustrating. She read into everything in a way that seemed unfair and unloving. Call em old fashioned but communication and respect go a long way in your literal MARRIAGE.

While I did feel some companionship with our main character at some points in her postpartum journey, I veered off of our similar track when she refused to ask for help or express her needs. What’s the point of a husband if you can’t express needs to each other?

This woman is overthinking to the point that she worries forcing needed medicine into her toddler could be viewed as abuse??? Or forcing shoes on a child to flee an emergency would be mean?!?!?! Get a grip.

I think this book was written as a funny look at the daily struggles of being a mother, but the main character was ultimately unlikable, ridiculous, and absolutely un-relatable to me as a wife, mother, and woman.

[kimi ✰]

overthinking-maxxing

[Caitlin]

Natural Disaster follows a mum’s last day of maternity leave. Not a great deal happens plot wise, which in my opinion is exactly why it works.
Instead, it offers a sharp, intimate insight into the strange oxymoron of motherhood, and the way everything can feel monumental and mundane at the same time. The novel puts language to emotions and thoughts that are often hard to articulate or even admit. Reading it six months after returning to work, I found it relatable and unexpectedly validating. This is a book I’ll be recommending to mum friends for sure.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lisa Owens, and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC.

[Dodi]

It's possible that reading Natural Disaster brought out my PTSD. Yes, I say that a little sarcastically. I gave birth to twins when I had a 2 1/2-year-old at home already. Lisa Owen so vividly and accurately recalls those days of overwhelm that this was really hard for me to read. She chronicles "a day in the life of..." parenting two active young sons while her husband is out of town for work. It's mostly an internal-dialogue format, making it feel a little stream-of-consciousness. The narrator (who isn't named) hopes to conclude her last day of maternity leave with a day of fun for her boys. It is very much the opposite of that for all three of them. I read in the reviews that lead me to read this book: "darkly comic" and "sharp humor." Not for me. Bad flashbacks.

[Shannon]

I was excited for this story about a day in the life of an exhausted mother but this felt like a rushed, very dramatic account of a working mother struggling to hold it together. While it was relatable, the audioboo version was read by a narrator who spoke VERY fast and I found it hard to keep up to the protagonist's story. Recommended for fans of movies like One fine day and anyone who is struggling in early motherhood. Many thanks to NetGalley for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Christine Weber]

Catalogue of the millions of daily mishaps that our narrator, a young mother who’s feeling lost in her marriage, career, and personhood, catastrophizes. My mom would like this (I think it would prompt rose-colored reflections on raising my siblings and I), but I might not recommend this to any new moms (likely a bit anxiety-inducing for someone currently raising small kids). Since I don’t have kids, I personally struggled to relate to the narrator, and actually found her (and her kids) incredibly frustrating and annoying and kind of bratty.

[Kathryn O'Sullivan]

2.5 stars

This is a story about 24 hours of motherhood/womanhood when our expectations are of social media polished perfection.

It is deliberately grating, frustrating, and tedious.

If you want a similar story but with maybe some more nuance and probably more laughs, try Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder.

[Haley Stewart]

A pretty bleak, pointless story arch on motherhood. It follows the last day of maternity leave of a mom, only to consistently be let down by her own expectations and her kinda terrible kid. No solutions, no big revelations, no point.

[Jocelyne Fildes]

Irritating. Boring. Repetitive.

[Pooja]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! I was really interested to read this book after seeing a piece about it in the Guardian. Being a mum of a toddler and a baby myself, I felt the subject matter would be right up my street. And so it was! The book is all about our narrator’s last day on maternity leave with her two kids. It’s written as a stream of consciousness, interspersed with the day’s happenings, so feels very much like someone is talking to you, which I liked. The trials and tribulations that the narrator goes through on the day felt familiar and relatable (toddler tantrums over snacks, anyone?). There are several good points made (mum guilt, career impacts, unfair parenting burden, etc) but it did feel relentless and I had to stop reading at times just to get a break from how bleak it made parenting. I did also feel slightly disappointed that the narrator is written as constantly overthinking and frazzled - so much so that it felt like her husband comes and saves the day at the end.
Overall, a pretty good read (I’ve been recommending it to all my mum friends!) - 3.5 stars.

[Kelsey Pelzer]

I loved the timeline of the book and how it covered motherhood in such a relatable, hilarious, chaotic, emotional way.

[Vansa]

I think all of us know the feeling that we’re running the Red Queen’s Race everyday. This book perfectly captures that feeling-you can try your best, but daily life and tiny events can all still conspire against you, one little thing at a time, till even your relaxation needs to be perfectly planned, but can still falter with the execution, in the most banal yet unexpected way. A mother with 2 young children, on her last day of maternity leave, decides to spend a day with them, giving them ‘quality time’, letting the day unfurl while she makes the most of being able to give them undivided attention. What could possibly go wrong? As mice know and men seem to forget, things don’t turn out in quite the halcyon way she expects, and the writing is both poignant and hilarious, in turns, in its interrogation of women trying to have it all. While the book is set over that one day, you get flashbacks to her meet-cute with her husband, her career, her first pregnancy and how it went, her relationship with her parents-all sprinkled throughout, in an unobtrusive way, the way the mind and memory work. You still get a full, rich picture of all these characters though, without them even actually getting many pages for each, and I wonder how many times the author wrote and rewrote these to make it seem so effortless. I also absolutely loved her relationship with her husband-like the protagonist, I tend to harbour resentment and think of myself as carrying the burden of housework but as multiple arguments have proved to me, that’s not really the entire picture because I’ve also refused offers of help multiple times!
It’s really well-etched and easy to relate to, even for someone like me who doesn’t have children and normally isn’t at all interested in narratives like this, because they’re always so badly written-I usually don’t have much patience for narratives about privileged white women whingeing about their lack of time and all their various troubles after choosing to have multiple children , while being aware of all the responsibility that brings. The absolute worst offenders in this genre to me, are ‘Consider yourself kissed’ by Jessica Stanley, and ‘ Sorrow and bliss’ by Meg Mason, astoundingly solipsistic and self-important books that somehow got great reviews. I started this book fully expecting it to be as awful as the others but this isn’t like the others at all. The writing is much more incisive, and the writer doesn’t set up what seem like terrible problems only for them to be resolved very easily( ‘Sorrow and bliss’, for instance, is all about the protagonist’s supposedly devastating mental health issues, which are breezily resolved with one diagnosis, that we are conveniently not told about, when that’s not how diagnoses for mental health conditions work, not ones described the way the book does-it’s not a stomach ulcer! In CYK, the protagonist does not want to live with her partner anymore, and conveniently has a rich friend whose house she can live in, while continuing to complain about how oppressed she is.) I have adopted an attitude of superciliousness because of these silly books where the women never seem to lack for great childcare options when that's the Holy Grail for mothers, and dismissed these characters as choosing these problems. This book however, with its very real problems ( like never finding a thermometer when you need one!), made me rethink my lack of empathy-should women choose not to have children because the logistics are difficult for them, instead of their partners also chipping in to plan out their circumstances? Is it silly of women to want both financial independence and motherhood? Surely not, particularly in circumstances that should be easier than for many other far less fortunate people, and this still doesn't invalidate their difficulties.
I loved this book so much that it’s gone on my ‘books I will risk a migraine for’-I get terrible, day-ruining migraines if I sleep even 10 minutes beyond my usual bedtime, so if a book makes me stay up to finish it, it deserves a special place! Read this, if you’re a woman, a mother, a person in this world.

[Ashleigh]

Arc provided by NetGalley

The last day of maternity, two children and a plan to celebrate the day, nothing could go wrong- right? Natural Disaster follows one mum and her boys across 24 hours as her plans for celebration and cherishing her last maternity experience end up in tears, chocolate chips and A&E.

An endearing, chaotic and funny take on the emotions and ambitions of early motherhood, the trials of babies and balancing parenting with society. This book talks about a lot of the struggles that come with motherhood including the bittersweet return to work and the pressures of parenting out in the public eye.

This is a medium pace book with dry humor and sarcasm served with teary truths. Whilst I dont have experience first hand with the themes I didn’t feel alienated and it didn’t affect my position as a reader. Owens strikes a good balance between sharing the experiences of motherhood and opinions on certain things that arise without any airs of judgement or ‘holier-than-thou’ attitudes. Here we are, a fly on the wall of one mum’s experience and her feelings on the matter.

We are taken along as our main character decides that her last day of maternity will be a celebration of her time, a marker of a new chapter. She discusses that this will probably be the last one for her and that she wants to make it a moment of happy memories and fun.

This doesn’t go exactly to plan.

With her husband away in Barcelona on a work trip she is left to juggle the demands of Felix and Ruddy alone and the chaos ensues almost instantly. Chocolate chips are grabbed and fistfulls eaten before even making it to the pancake mix. Oats are stuffed into coat pockets and spill into the hallway…Owens does a great job of making these stressful moments build up right from the beginning so that the tension boils and boils and as the hours tick away we get a real solid sense of how mum is feeling. It was an immersive experience. These dramatic flashes are sandwiched between mum trying to keep calm and think of other ideas and trying to keep both boys supervised. There is a moment of strife where she is offering healthy snacks and tells us about how she is trying to get them on a clean and healthy snack schedule but due to the constant crying and the boiling tempers she makes the call to give in to their temptations. All this is taking place as her mind is buzzing with thoughts about the tampon found in her husband’s old luggage.

Another part of the book I thought was really strongly integrated was the flashbacks. They all took place as a result of something happening and felt very seamless and didn’t feel clunky or misplaced within the main narrative. These flashbacks felt natural and was a great way to build on the character’s and their background to make them feel more fleshed out without being obvious. I love a book that has the constraints of time and this was a way to flesh out the story and provide more ‘action’ in a realistic way.

There were also some really good nuggets to think about in the text related to the story. The main characters' musings comment on some key social aspects such as how strangers feel comfortable to comment and judge mums and the societal pressures that come with raising children too. These moments of honesty and reflection I think will be appreciated a lot especially for readers with similar experiences.

Very funny, great pacing and a unique exploration of maternity, life changes and the stress of parenting for mums. Captures both love and tension in a realistic and entertaining way!

[KBeansbook]

THIS IS AN ADVANCED READING COPY FROM NETGALLEY :

Mum to Felix who is 4 and Rudy who is still just under a year is preparing to return to her job and the day before she’s decided to spend a special day out with the boys making it an extra special demarcation of her foray back into the work force and her little one Rudy’s first time at nursery.
The week before she heads back into work, her husband who is in the middle of a start up and getting it up and running has been working late and weekends and now he’s got a conference achedule for his entire company to attend the whole week and won’t be home the weekend until Sunday the night before she heads back.
She’s a very high strung Mum internally but is continually patient and using her super mum power reserves on the power struggles that 4 year olds love to push and her Rudy is an attached lap baby who often doesn’t want to part with her.
Their special day turns into a day of unfortunate events and some of the fiascos the boys and she get themselves into are LOK hilarious. She is swinging on the pendulum of guilt for wanting to go back to work and guilt for leaving the boys to nursery care because financially she doesn’t have to go back but her own self preservative and esteem she feels it will best for them all. Having done it with her eldest, the beginning was brutal he cried so hard she swore she could hear him at the train but eventually they both calmed down.
She and her husband aren’t connecting they continuously keep getting into snarky fight that really aren’t over anything other than she is an overwhelmed exhausted homemaker and mum of two very young boys one of who is still nursing and he is naturally very stressed out at a critical juncture with his own company.
This book is perfect for mums who will delight in the comical conversations she has with her boys especially Felix and you just want to give her the boggiest longest hug and tell her she might not feel it but she’s doing an incredible job and if every mum was as invested and concerned about the mental repercussions of her losing her patience or judge her for feeding her kids prepackaged snacks she should ignore them and know she’s doing best and that’s all that’s needed.
Thank you for this opportunity to receive and give my honest feedback of the book #NaturalDisaster written by #LisaOwens and a huge thank you to #Netgalley and to #LittleBrownandCompany

[Simon S.]

"What if there's a middle ground? ...she lives on the middle ground, a perilously high and narrow path winding between the abysses of opposing extremes: too much/not enough, smothering/negligent, pushover/cold block of stone. The middle ground is the reason she's so tired."

As her maternity leave comes to an end, our unnamed narrator plans a final perfect day with her two boys before they begin childcare and she says goodbye to full-time parenting.

We follow mum, Felix (4), and Rudy (1) through this one day which, with Dad absent overseas, gets off to an early, fractious start.

As all her best intentions collide with reality, we share her frustrations and anxieties even as we chuckle with recognition.

Every other mother, working or otherwise, seems to have everything under control, while our narrator is awash with doubts. What should they eat? When should they eat? How much sex is the "right" amount for parents of young children? Should the boys watch television at all?

Sources of anxiety proliferate: online forums, WhatsApp parents' groups, advice that either never works or works perfectly until, suddenly, it doesn't. Family members, meanwhile, undermine her efforts with the best of intentions, offering unsolicited wisdom at precisely the moment she needs nothing more than silent agreement.

Amid all this pressure and worry is the unconditional love she feels for her two boys, and the joy of watching them discover both the world and themselves—so much of which she fears she'll miss when she returns to work.

Her relationship with her husband has become transactional, fraught with tiny misreadings of language and tone that can send any conversation spiralling into irritation. Because he works outside the home, despite his best endeavours he cannot fully appreciate the juggling and self-subsumation required by the "round-the-clock immersive theatre that is parenthood."

It turns out that the middle ground isn't a place of balance at all, but one of constant effort—and this funny, tender, quietly angry novel captures that perfectly.

[Gill]

Firstly, and really I should have guessed this from the book description, I am the wrong target audience for this book. My eldest grandchild is 16 so it is quite some time since I had sole charge of two young children (grandchildren excepted, but at the end of the day we give them back), but even so I could certainly sympathise at times with the main character - Mum, sorry I can't remember her actual name. Perhaps that says something about how becoming a parent causes you to lose your sense of self, in that the reader hasn't remembered her name, does anyone ever even say it in the book?

My daughter being mum to 4 children from 5 years up to 16 could most definitely identify with the MC. I think she has probably faced every minor trauma in this book and much more besides. It did have its funny moments and I enjoyed the humour in the book, but I felt it read a bit like a blog on mumsnet. There isn't a plot as such, though to be fair it is only set over 1 day but apart from her two children, there is little dialogue with anyone else until you get towards the end, so seems a little one dimensional. And at times she does over analyse, ruminating over every minutia of the day. It did have me laughing out loud at some of the situations she found herself in so it did keep me entertained.

I think maybe social media and the internet as a whole perhaps has a hand in denting the confidence of new mums today compared with 40 years ago when I had my children. She does tend to be led by the latest trends in child rearing rather than going off her gut instinct and it highlights how hard it can be for new parents now, always feeling judged and compared, and at times I felt she was probably making a rod for her own back.

I'm sure this book would appeal hugely to younger readers with young children, but perhaps grandparents too could have a read, just to see what their children are up against when they're raising their own families.

[Adrian Dooley]

Ok Im obviously not the demographic this book is aimed at so I will try to be measured with my opinions.

A book based on the final day of a mother’s maternity leave after having a second child, she wants to have a special last day with her children and do lots of stuff they love to mark the day. Of course things dont go according to plan as she struggles with the everyday problems of motherhood and this is apparently observed and told in a humorous and insightful way.

Sounds ok so far but… the story (if you can call it that) is wafer thin with not a lot happening apart from them going out of the house a couple of times and then to the hospital. I mean there is barely a short story here never mind a novel.

Also the characters were just irritating and totally lacking any real substance. The mother was an incredibly weak and immature character who annoyed the hell out of me throughout and is married to a vain shallow man. As for the children well at least the baby wasnt annoying as he had little to say (well nothing really, hes a baby) but the toddler was next level annoying. Spoiled and indulged by his mother who didnt want to upset him etc etc.

Its a whole lot of nothing where nothing happens and we get a rinse and repeat of the mothers inane and uninteresting musings.

I started off this review trying to be mindful that I probably am not the demographic for this book and so wanted to go gently on it but as I type this review I just become more and more aware of how much the book irritated me and I didnt enjoy any of it.

There are much more positive reviews out there so hopefully Im an outlier but for me this was poor. Really really poor.


Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

[Andrea Kraft]

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company, and Lisa Owens for providing me with this ARC..

Natural Disaster is a nicely written and deeply observant novel that takes an honest look at the overwhelming reality of motherhood. Lisa Owens captures the constant mental checklist, emotional demands, and pressure that can come with caring for others while trying to hold onto a sense of yourself. Her writing is thoughtful, witty, and incredibly effective at portraying the chaos of everyday life.

While I appreciated the authenticity of this story, I struggled with how emotionally heavy the reading experience felt. The entire novel moves at a significantly slower pace as compared to the main character’s day. I found myself becoming more drained as the story continued. The endless cycle of challenges and frustrations made it difficult for me to fully connect with the experience.

As a mother, there were certainly moments that felt familiar, especially the feeling of being pulled in a hundred different directions at once. However, instead of leaving me feeling seen or encouraged, the story often left me feeling exhausted. I found myself hoping for a shift in tone or a moment that would provide some emotional balance.

I think this book will especially appeal to readers who enjoy realistic, character-driven stories that explore the complexities of family life and identity. For me, though, the constant intensity made it a difficult book to fully enjoy.

Even with my personal struggles with the story, I can recognize the strength of Lisa Owens’ writing and her ability to bring such a specific experience to life with humor and honesty. This is a thoughtful exploration of motherhood and the many roles women carry, even if it wasn’t the reading experience I was looking for.

[Sonni Chullan]

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book. I didn’t read the reviews and just received it because I thought it was a thriller. What it is, is a mystery! A mystery as to how us women manage to raise two children under four years old, with a husband away at work all the time, and keep a reasonably level head! The book caused me to have flashbacks as to when my son was born, because it centres mainly around her eldest son Felix, the four-year-old, and Rudy, the one-year-old, who is too young to really know anything much, and he is also just starting to do things for himself, like pull himself up and starting to babble a few words.

It caused me to have bouts of anxiety though because those early childcare times were really hard, and I just had the one child! But it is a good insight into life as a mother and what you should and shouldn’t do in some precarious situations. There were times when I thought that she was just being a little bit too soft on these children, even though the way that the book was written, the children were relatively well-behaved in relation to some other children I’ve known and come across in my life.

It is a very well-written book that is a good read. When I started reading, I just wanted to sit down and be absorbed by it. It does contain a lot of humorous sections to it, and the mother, whose name isn’t really mentioned (this is life when you’re apparent, you are now known as mum, and your name no longer matters), is very self-deprecating at times. But I think that’s due to her stress levels more than anything else. Anyway, the book ends with Felix being admitted into hospital because he has become very sick. It is worth a read if you want to recall some memories around having children, or have an insight into what it’s like.

[Aga]

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK | Virago and NetGalley for this ARC.

The premise of this book, 24 hours of mother's life before going to her corporate life after maternity leave, is absolutely my alley.
I was supper excited for this one....and what a disappointed it was.

in my opinion this should have been a novella. I think it could have worked as a shorted book and if the main character had a backbone. She wants to create a perfect day for her and 2 sons but she should have known that having a toddler means nothing will go according to plan. The issue is that her toddler is annoying and disrespectful towards his mom while she does nothing to correct or encourage respect. It looks like he can do whatever he wants with no consequences. She is irritating and annoying as a main character. Plus really nothing happens thru the story.

It could have been a great exploration of handling marriage and the changing of its dynamics while having two kids and work, The husband seems to be quite detached and self centered. I believe if the book would use humour, like a comedy of errors it would have been more enjoyable.

As someone who had 2 kids under 2 years of age I could easily relate to her struggles but what really annoyed me is her passiveness and striving for perfection, knowing full well that making a mess in the kitchen would be much better perfect day for her and her kids than her own version of a perfect day she was trying to achieve. I felt sorry for her that she doesn't understand that.

I really wanted to like it but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

[Katy Kelly]

Empathy alert! Warning! Mum blood pressure will rise when reading!

I'm not kidding, this hit me so hard in the memories I thought I'd suppressed. With older kids now (15 and 9), toddler and newborn days looooooong behind me, it didn't take many pages to have me back in the lists, routines, packing, jobs, needs of small children and the daily grind of getting through the hours to naptimes and dad-coming-home times.

Wow, the author knows exactly what this is like.

This is one day in a mum's life. A mum at home, for her last day before returning to work. With youngest now a year old and older child not yet nursery-ready, this is a mum determined to give them a last 'perfect day' with her before she returns to her office, her emails... her sanity. With husband away, the buggy and snacks ready, what can go wrong?

This is a bit of a trauma read, I must say. From weather to tantrums to even more dramatic and awful calamities, you feel for the protagonist, even if she's often trying to be a martyr.

But with the added 'why does my husband have a tampon that's not my size in his bag?' question going through her mind all day, the book examines not just the resentment of the stay-at-home mum but the state of marriage in the early days of parenting as well. It all felt very real.

A chaotic, traumatic and blood-pressure-raising plot that doesn't say much positive about contemporary parenting, even if you can wade through to see the love and payoffs in the midst of the heartache and anxieties.

I think this is best read by those who've passed this stage! Any earlier and you may not make it...

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

[Milly Reynolds]

This is a book that the blurb says is hilarious but I didn’t find it so. I found it was full of dark humour that revealed the truth that all mothers know and all mothers try to hide for fear of being judged. The story spans one day, a day that our narrator wants to be special because it is her last day of maternity leave. In the morning she will deposit 4 year old Felix and 1 year old Rudi at the nursery and return to work. She wants this day to be a day for them. Her husband is ona business trip and so she is alone. This book shows motherhood as chaotic and glorious. The author shows us the attempt to make pancakes while little hands grab the chocolate chips. She shows us the shopping trip where little hands stuff oats into pockets, the attempts to provide healthy snacks that are thwarted. This is all so relatable and real. And underlying all of this is the guilt that she is not a good mum, that by wanting it all - a career and a family - you are failing. There is also the way that as a mum she has lost your identity - she is just Felix’s mum. She endures the looks from perfect strangers who judge her because her child is crying. Even her own mother has opinions. This is motherhood as reality - the way it is sometimes impossible to plan for all eventualities and without giving anything away, I perfectly understand the frog suit - I spent a whole day once in hospital in wellingtons! The author doesn’t judge, she tells it how it sometimes is. She tells us things that some mums are just too embarrassed to talk about because they fear that yet again they will be judged. I think a lot of mums will appreciate this novel’s honesty.

[abi slade]

3.5⭐️

pros ✅
- an auspicious occasion! really enjoyed that the whole book covered 24 hours (& every time something bad happens you know it’s only going to get worse…)
- 211 pages of believable chaos, the spiral of events was delightful and preconceived and exhausting and effective
- 211 pages of VERY effective birth control (i know felix ended up in hospital but got that 4 year old pissed me off so much)
- she does also sincerely highlight very beautiful moments of absurd joy in parenting: “the point is that no single moment, neither wailing low nor euphoric high, can come close to representing the round-the-clock immersive theatre that is parenthood.”
- very quick and easy read (big margins thank you proof copy!)
- so much sympathy for the mother (i don’t think she ever gets named? she’s reduced down to just being a mum)
- the mother’s capacity for introspection and empathy for her kids was also impressively described: “How astonishing and destabilising to be four - no wonder he emerges at pick-up so tight-lipped, no wonder it takes time to process what goes on in there, when any moment your colleague might start eating a sponge or evacuate a tendril of spaghetti from their nose!”

cons ❌
- no chapters? not sure whether this is intentional or because it’s a proof copy
- did kind of want answers about the husband’s potential infidelity, but i do understand that there’s only so much you can do when the entire book is set over one day
- think that felix going to hospital could’ve been delayed plot-wise a tad, just because a substantial portion was set in the hospital and it was getting a bit samey. maybe more flashbacks could’ve helped remedy this issue