Twelve Moons: A Year Under a Shared Sky

by Caro Giles

TWELVE MOONS follows a year spent caught between the wild sea and the changing moon of the wide Northumberland skies.

Caro Giles lives on the far edge of the country, with her tribe of daughters: The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One. She is at once alone and yet surrounded. Bound by circumstance, financial constraints, illness and the challenges of single motherhood, she has nowhere to go but the fierce landscape that surrounds her.

Over the course of the year, the moon becomes her fellow traveller through dark times, and companion through joyful ones – and even when the sky is wreathed in cloud, the moon is still felt in the pull of the tides.

TWELVE MOONS follows the lunar calendar, each chapter sharing a month and a moon, and shows the simmering power that lies in our often hidden daily lives. A dazzlingly honest memoir that while never turning away from the awkward truths of life, also shows how love will flourish if we can only find a space for ourselves.

Set against windswept beaches and ancient hills, this is a story steeped in nature and landscape. Since our earliest days, mankind has looked up at the moon and seen a story reflected back. Twelve Moons is one of those stories – a book about finding yourself, your voice and a sense that even in the dark of the night, we are never truly alone.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature, Book Club, Audiobook, Natural History, Biography

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2023

Reviews

[Sophy H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Big out breath.........................

Where to start with this one.

I'll start with the positives as I don't want to sound like I'm dissing this book, which incidentally, I expected to absolutely love (sadly not).

The positives :

1. Caro Giles writes poetically with some great descriptive elements
2. She clearly loves her children
3. She knows how to summon a sense of place

The negatives/what's wrong with it :

1. Honestly, if I'd known this was going to be a single mum's diary, I would never have bought it. Caro Giles uses the moon as a backdrop to basically keen and howl (albeit poetically) about being a single mum, looking after four girls on her own, going about the business of running a household with four young girls, taking them to school, keeping them at home, looking after them when they're ill, taking them wild swimming, making them hot drinks, negotiating home-schooling for one, taking them to their dad's for weekends. On and on this lamenting goes, it gets very repetitive and tedious if I'm honest. If you're a fellow single mum or you've been done dirty by the father of your kids, then you might get something out of this or find it right on the money. I did not.
2. The naming of the girls? The Mermaid, The Caulbearer etc. Quaint as this is at the start, could you not just have used their initials maybe? This twee affectation becomes annoying the more you read.
3. GET THE CAT A CATFLAP!!!! There are pages devoted to Giles going out into the dead of night looking for the cat to bring her in, feeling frightened, feeling vulnerable etc etc all whilst looking for the cat! Here's an idea, get a catflap!!! Then said cat can come and go as she pleases!
4. The moaning about having to take the girls to their dad's. I mean, that's the thing when you have kids mate, if you split up, inevitably there is gonna be some fuckery involved with running the kids back and forth and that job is made all the harder when you have four! That's on you and the ex surely.
5. Berating the services involved when dealing with the daughter being home-schooled. I'm sure schools, teachers, counsellors, student support services are overstretched and understaffed, especially with the rise in the number of children with neurodivergent issues. They're doing their best. And they probably don't want to be coming out to your home as much as you don't want them there either. I felt Giles was quite harsh in her assessment of these professionals.

Conclusions: The parts about the moon are good, the parts about history and geography where Caro lives are good. The book is probably far more enjoyable if you're a mum, particularly a single mum and a single mum with lots of issues to deal with. I'm not the target audience and there wasn't enough in there to keep me interested. It was tedium manifest.

1 star sadly.

[Lady R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning.
Such an important memoir for me: I felt so seen

[Jessica L L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is gorgeous, with a voice that stays with you after you’ve closed the page. Beautifully describes the shame, vulnerability and then strength that comes from becoming a single parent. The writing is evocative, haunting, and ultimately up lifting .

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly beautiful book, simultaneously a love letter to Northumberland and a seasonal portray as life as a woman/parent/carer. Would highly recommend reading over the course of a year, which I had done so up until a holiday in Northumberland which felt the right setting to finish the book.

[Kharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Countryfile new nature writer of the year 2021 - I absolutely had such high expectations from this book. I had it in my possession waiting for the perfect time to immerse myself in it. A big anticipation. I expected from the description something broadly along the lines of John Lewis-Stempel and maybe even Beth Kempton who I believe are at the top of their game in this type of genre (nature / autobiographical aspects etc).

Disappointment is an understatement. This was the most tiresome and annoying book I have ever read, mainly due to the authors narrative. The author comes across (to me) on the page as very unstable - sees men in a very negative light, is somehow convinced women are always seen as the underdogs, rattles on about how not everyone in the street lit a candle for Sarah Everard, and just generally comes across as very needy with incessant whining. It takes us right back to covid lockdowns (I thought we were flooded with books based around lockdown - the moment has passed..). She’d had comments that perhaps she was making her children anxious - I can well imagine it, her book made ME anxious! At times the energy coming off the pages was a toxic mass of negativity, doom and gloom that often spilled from her mind onto the page.

I have given 2 stars, given that what hints towards nature there are, the nature writing was very good, if only it were not completely swamped and outweighed by repetitive insights into this writers dull and depressing mind with her regular outpourings, taking up 90% of the book. Also, her weaving of past events into the present narrative was good and seamless, however, if you want to be uplifted - this is NOT the book for you.

I did also find it hard to relate to this person. I always think of people who’s lives revolve around nature not as city people and I got the distinct impression she didn’t really know who she was, was set in Northumberland due to a past shared whim and circumstance and was at heart missing the city (hailing from her life in London), with talk of stoned sundays, fag runs and a diet of vodka and partying hard. At this point I’m not entirely drawn to this person, who’s beginning to sound a bit yuk and not really someone I can (and even want to) relate to.

I found it difficult to keep track of the nicknames given to her daughters as in whom was whom and it made reading a bit clunky.


I make reference to nature, however, this book seems to be a bit of a con and is basically a licence for someone to wax lyrical about their largely mundane routines, the struggles of being a single parent (as if no one else ever had such struggles), and if nothing else seems a platform for attention. That’s fine, but don’t piggyback on the nature writer aspect or waste such a privileged opportunity following the country file award. I cannot believe this even got published - perhaps its a social media platform thing as so common in publishing today.

At one point, she mentions being told to be careful on one end of the street due to some attacks that had taken place - her thought process “why should I?” I cannot get my head around that kind of arrogance. Of course we should all be safe, but unfortunately this is the real world, and it’s not perfect. It’s not a world of unicorns and we must therefore be accountable and vigilant and consider advice.

I was dismayed to be brought right back into the world of covid lockdowns once again (remember what I said about uplifting - not). And for some reason she seemed to be blaming the prime minister for her own misfortunes with having to isolate, when she herself had been out running in company and most likely brought covid into the house by not doing her own risk assessment and taking precautions, even if people thought it might have gone away. That’s just stupidity. There is no one to blame. Also then she’s getting upset on decisions by the govt and how they affect families like hers (covid). I’m not sure what she’s suggesting here, she’s very worn down with isolation, but everyone went through lockdown and bouts of isolation, no one is any more special than the next family, its time to get over it. Everyone did what they did to keep themselves AND OTHER VULNERABLE persons safe. Her circumstances were indeed a challenge, but she also cited lots of support from teachers sending comfort packages, her parents seemed helpful, friends - that might be an awful lot more than some people have.

Finding context within the book was difficult - she wanted to delete the other person from her story - her ex husband, but seemed put out that his family ignored her (maybe they felt the same). There are then some obvious omissions which make it hard to piece together because she’s quite obviously holding back on much of her story, so we are kind of left to fill in the blanks.

I didn’t quite understand what her work was. I assume a writer, but at no point did we gain any insight into her writing life (surely this would offer up some positivity) - nothing at all, and I was quite keen to read something like that.

As I said earlier, John LS has this down to an art - and manages to weave tales from his life into a lovely prose set against a backdrop of the natural world. Beth Kempton manages to write good self help and autobiographical insights around her writing life, also drawing on the power of nature.

So this is a book, largely about the authors day to day life and her struggles with her own mental health, anxiety, caring for her kids, resentment towards her ex-husband and general neediness and sometimes paranoia, overwhelm etc - with some descriptions about the landscape and nature thrown in as an aside (for example when they go for a swim or on the school run). This may be well and good if there is a promise of change, a development, or something to learn - but there isn’t. There’s no conclusion, no development or change that emerges, no learning curve or positive change and outcomes, no inspiration to be gained. This leaves me wondering what the whole point of this book was? Memoir driven material has to be strong and inspirational and this is neither. Its just painful to read and at times infuriating. Not pleasant, no pleasant at all. I won’t be reading anything by this author again. I really, really wanted to like this and have another nature writer to follow. Perhaps if there was less memoir and opinions and personal stuff/negativity and more nature writing this would be a much better read.

[Claire O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book ! Beautiful and atmospheric.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering the moon phases over the course of the year is something I had never consciously done before. Every now and again I will be stopped in my tracks by a full moon, crisply white against the night sky, sometimes so big it inspires awe before I quickly get on with what it was I was doing. I hadn’t thought to look for it, to decide to make time for it, to recognise it in a world that is so busy. It remains a constant in a world filled with uncertainty. This idea is a running motif throughout Caro Giles’ memoir ‘Twelve Moons’, a poignant and evocative reflection on the life of the writer who lives with her four daughters who are lovingly nicknamed to match the personalities and idiosyncrasies of each: The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One.
Giles examines and processes how the course of her life’s events have led to her current situation: ‘how I have ended up on my own in the Northern most corner of England with four little girls, when I spent my childhood dreaming of bright lights and centre stage?’ Despite articulating trepidation and uncertainty and doubt, her bravery and tenacity shine from the page as does her deep love for her children. The trauma of navigating a separation as well as school systems unable to meet her children’s needs felt overwhelming and her honesty with regards to how this impacted her sense of self was something that was identifiable, ‘How can my story be excavated from the mine of my life when so much is devoted to others?’
Not only is the sense of individual loss explored but the writer foregrounds a lot of the stigmas associated with raising children who are deemed not to ‘fit’ into mainstream schooling. It felt that the issue centred back to motherhood specifically and how a mother choses to raise her children as being the direct cause of school attendance and thriving in a mainstream setting. A passage in which the author describes having to de-register one of her children from school by the age of six was particularly emotive and hard-hitting. How the writer was told she was responsible for making her child anxious ‘some kind of Munchhausen-by-proxy imitation designed to induce fear and confusion. A special type of gaslighting that conveniently conceals the reality.’ This line initially made me feel all the anger I had experienced with education systems but also a sense of it being a uniquely female burden of blame. Having to battle systems not adequately equipped with knowledge, finances and sometimes just basic empathy felt all too familiar. Very often home schooling can be one the very few options available to parents finding themselves in this situation and as Giles highlights for all its potential joys, it can be all consuming and immersive. Very often feelings of isolation can take rise, resulting in a loss of self.
This balance between motherhood and desiring individual freedom is something returned to throughout the text. The question of how can we do or be both is a powerful one. The answer is elusive, but part of it seems to be attached in the solace of the landscape, the wilderness of the Northumberland coast where the writer lives and, of course, the moon. The familiar certainty of its stages helped provide a certainty and reassurance in contrast to the unpredictability of life. It is, figuratively and literally, a light in the dark. Descriptions of the natural world permeate the novel, charting the ebbs and flows of the family’s life across a whole year. They are beautifully drawn and highlight the necessity of place in allowing fullness of life to take place whilst providing restoration for all the protagonists. It is here they can be truly themselves; the book felt just as much a love letter to the natural landscape as it did to her daughters.
Overall the novel felt to be a contemplation of motherhood and the fierce love between a mother and her daughters. I was in awe of Caro Giles and all that she does. Nurturing and providing whilst trying to preserve a tiny piece of space and time to write and be. Their tribe is a force that is at once fragile, but also characterised by strength and togetherness. A beautiful, honest and raw text. One that I will return to again and again.

[Ruth Brookes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know it’s early, but I’m calling it anyway, Twelve Moons is one of my books of the year. 🌙

This exquisite, tender memoir, set amongst the rugged hills and wild, windswept Northumberland coast where @carogileswrites lives with her four young daughters, encompasses the cycles of a year, twelve moons, of motherhood and solo parenting.

In it, she records the daily simple acts of mothering her four girls, The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One, fierce and wild, against a backdrop of lockdowns and loneliness. Caro’s world revolves around caring for her eldest, who is autistic and recovering from an illness which has temporarily robbed her of the use of her legs.

Navigating single parenthood, advocating from her girls and herself - an endless battle to be heard - is isolating and exhausting. Yet we see, she is gravity to the four girls in orbit around her, her own anxiety waxing and waning over the months, as the landscape around them and the turn of the seasons become her refuge.

Throughout the quiet turn of each month she charts the sea swimming, rock pool immersing, hill running to calm her busy brain, and of nature weaving it’s magic, grounding, nurturing and holding the whole family safe as she reclaims herself from the sadness and scars left by shattered hopes; rediscovering and unearthing the woman concealed by motherhood.

I shared this book with a good friend, a mum like me whose everyday mothering strays from the conventional. There are plenty of us out there, raising anxious, poorly, neurodivergent children; dealing with schools, agencies and well meaning people who just don’t understand. I told her that reading memoirs like this make me feel less alone, in sisterhood with others who tread the wild pathways too.

Twelve Moons is a gorgeous book, an elegy to the power of looking up and of taking solace in nature. Powerful, raw, mesmerising, this memoir offers hope and wisdom. And throughout is the constancy of the moon, vast, gentle, beautiful. Reminding us we are not alone, we are small yet part of something larger.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The presentation of the book is absolutely stunning, both the cover artwork and title are beautiful. This memoir of Caro Giles is written in such a tone that you can't help but fall in love with her family, the moon and the landscapes of Northumberland. The author writes endearingly about the most heart-breaking times for her and her family.
All of this covers the time of global crisis during the pandemic. She evokes the lives of her 4 amazing daughters, The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One with honesty, compassion and clarity. In fact, the calm and chaos of their lives mirror the ebb and flow of the tides and the lunar cycle beautifully. The nature descriptions of landscape, sea and sky are breathtakingly realistic.
I found this memoir very relatable, moving, poignant and ultimately, quite uplifting.

#Netgalley #NaturaLitsy #Lunar #memoir #naturewritingbywomen #naturewriting #britishlandscape

Publisher - HarperNorth
Publication date - 19/01/23
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2511073

[Emily Woolley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little Disappointing. The author does a lot of moaning about how hard it was bringing four girls up on her own. Many women do this and it became a bit annoying. I didn’t like the girls’ nicknames especially the caulbearer, or the criticisms of any professionals who checked on the girls. Being a mum is tough I know. It sounds like the author found it really hard but she did have her parents to help at times. Some people don’t have this. It would be interesting to hear the father’s perspective. Saying this, it sounds like the author lives in an amazing location. I hope everything gets easier for her.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not the right reader for this book. Nothing about it resonated with my life. I found the author’s anxiety contagious and was impatient with her obsessive worrying, especially about the daughter she calls ‘the Mermaid’.

[Emily Thornhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever stumbled across. When reading a book I always like to fold down the corners of pages containing passages I find particularly striking. If I was to do this with this book, pretty much every single page would be folded. From cover to cover it was stunningly intimate. To have a love letter written for you as fiercely and deeply personal as this is truly a gift. To be loved is to be known, and Giles’ daughters are beyond blessed to have this token of adoration and understanding to cherish for the rest of their lives. With each chapter being devoted to the phases of the moon, so dotingly observed by their little tribe, the growth and strife of their familial bond throughout the course of a year as tumultuous as theirs is truly captivating. Giles’ navigation of motherhood, identity and landscape is incredibly moving.

Thank you to Holly for buying it for me:)

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving meditation on womanhood, parenting, mothering and what it is to weather divorce alongside a life that doesn't go to plan. Nature and the moon are anchor points, offering different perspectives, the possibility of freedom and connection to something outside the norm. This was very moving and quietly inspiring. There is no sense that the author reaches a resolution or solution, but then that isn't how life works. It is a chance to look at a feeling of someone's way towards something different and the possibility of change amongst the noise of day to day life.

[Malene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars are not enough for this amazingly powerful book: how mental health of children, the author's own health following recent divorce unravels their lives inn the time of covid. Relief found in nature through wild swimming and the observations of both the year I nature as well as the comings and goings of the moon.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was ridiculously perfect the whole way through

[Eve Hunter-Featherstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to summarise the feelings I have for this book.

I have to start by emphasising what a brilliant writer Giles is. Her words are poetically beautiful and immediately immersive. The main elements that stood out to me were Giles' expert capturing of the wild magic of Northumberland, the cosy domesticity of her everyday life, and the deep love she has for her daughters. By the time I finished the book, I felt that the little terrace on the lane was a safe place that I, too, could escape to and avoid the world in for a little while. I actually moved away from the North East in the middle of reading this, and found myself so racked with homesickness for the wild coastlines of Northumberland, that I ended up putting it down for five months before I had the strength to pick it up again.

However, latterly, I found myself increasingly irritated by certain passages of the book. The biggest thing that riled me was Giles' constant references to her ex-husband and the almost pining quality to these sections. I understand that the purpose of the book was for Giles to explore who she was in the wake of her separation. However, I believe it says that by the time the book even began, they had been separated for four years. The fact that there was still this moping, "pity me" tone to her writing made me want to scream and shake her. No woman should be so defined by her relationship with a man that four years later, she still can't bear to think of him. Perhaps this is the point, and that is what Giles is trying to step away from, but every time she brought him up it felt like the antithesis to the feminine strength and independence the book was meant to be cheerleading. Compounding this was the fact that every positive element to the book was immediately followed by some deeply morose emotion or thought that made it quite hard to read at times. It is clear from her writing that Giles is a very anxious and often deeply unhappy person, and whether it was her intention or not, this element of her character held centre stage throughout the narrative.

Finally, in addition to these conflicting emotions regarding the tone of the book, I found myself a little frustrated by some repetitious phrasing and inconsistencies in terms of timelines. However, that being said, considering this is Giles' first book, Twelve Moons is a debut masterpiece. It feels like I've complained a great deal more than I've raved about it! But in many ways, this highlights what a beautiful and evocative piece of writing this is. I would definitely recommend it.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written memoir, following a woman's timeline through the moon cycles as she come to terms with her family's changing dynamic, how the she copes with varying aspects of her children's needs, her own needs and re-discovering herself and her freedom.

I found this book poignant and refreshing in it's honesty and frankness.
The cycle of the same routines we all go through, even when big things change, we still carry on doing the same daily things with the same people.
I loved that the Full Moon each month was a focal point. How important it was to find that familiar glow, sometimes in amongst deep cloud, sometimes a bright summer night sky...it was a constant in an ever changing and evolving world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book and amazing to go to her talk at waterstones in Newcastle. I could not stop noticing the moon all the time after reading this book. I enjoyed some of the repetitive bits, like letting the cat in and out because it felt like the chance to get quite familiar with her and her daily life. I loved the swimming bits of course, but especially enjoyed the scottish holidays. It was funny to read the description of jesmond - I could tell exactly where she was, it's really fun when a book includes a place you know.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not the book I expected. As it had won the Countryfile prize for nature writing I thought that would be its focus and was looking forward to reading a book set in Northumberland. Instead, what I got was a book set during the pandemic about the struggles of a single mother, suffering from extreme anxiety, struggling to bring up her four daughters. The passages about the moon and the Northumberland coast were the reason I gave 2 stars as they were beautifully written. However, the rest of the book only served to make me feel incredibly anxious and I could not finish it.

[Catherine Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this beautifully written book. One of my favorite reads of 2023.

[Kelsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this but the writing style was a bit to adjective heavy for me. Otherwise her story was vulnerable and raw.

[felicity]

absolutely lovely, will be passed on to mum to read:))

[Paul Gamble · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a debut memoir that will particularly resonate with anyone who has had their life smashed apart and needed to dig deep, just to keep going. In Caro Giles’s case that’s the reality of divorce and the everyday needs of her tribe of four daughters. Given that she is writing so close to the traumas and challenges, there is a rawness in Twelve Moons that makes for challenging reading at times. But you will soon see that love and tenderness permeate every aspect of the lives we read about. Written with intelligence - a blend of lightness, elegance, and even the elegiac, Twelve Moons immerses you in the Northumbrian landscape, with excursions to other quiet places. This is not the life Caro Giles envisaged - an important thread of the read is to see how she adapts to dramatically changed circumstances simply to make things work… to get through the days.
The chapters lead us through the year’s moons and their phases, which unites things cleverly - an unexpectedly grounding device. No surprise that I, a nature lover, found joy in the descriptions of the natural world. The healing qualities of the non-human are well shown here. As for the humans in this book, this is an overwhelmingly female and feminine tale. But I hope that many other men will find their way to this book, as I did. The big messages of this book - love, recovery, independence, tenacity - are important for all of us.
This is an inspirational memoir from a brave and skilled crafter of words.

[Sara Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful cover and a beautiful concept - we follow 12 moons through 2021 with a single mother and her four daughters, one of whom is neurodivergent and in chronic pain post covid. Caro Giles gives quite a raw account of her life. She runs and swims, is frustrated by the blunt, blaming interventions of the authorities in her family, feels everything very deeply and cries a great deal. She writes wonderfully about the environment, and about the domestic routines of mothering small girls - school runs, boiling pasta and bedtime cuddles.

At some point about half way through the year I slightly lost patience with the nicknames she assigned her 4 daughters (always The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One), the vagueries around her eldest daughter’s particular needs and the reasons behind her failed marriage. I understand these things are private, but it started to feel a little indulgent of her to expect us to be with her in her pain, yet not truly understand it.

I had to put the book aside for a few nights before I could continue reading. But I am glad I did continue, because although everything was not fully explained, you came out with a real sense of her strength and a real feeling that there is beauty in the mundanity and routines of life.

[Heather Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, it was beautifully written and I loved the descriptions of Northumberland and the phases of the moon, and the wildlife. I was irritated by her 'woe is me' moaning, nicknames for her children, and unintentional passing over her anxieties to her children. There's no doubt she loves her children but I'm sure there's a lot of single mothers living in London's concrete jungles or sink estates who would envy her life, living between beautiful beaches and hills, swimming in the sea with her girls, running in country lanes without choking on fumes, and standing barefoot in her lane at night looking at the moon. She doesn't say much about the husband but it seems to me that she changed from party girl actress/singer to mother earth in a short time, having 4 children because her parents did, and moving the family to the edge of the earth (as she calls it). When the husband jumped off the merry-go-round the resulting diary is full of self-pity. In her defence she did seem to appreciate the life she created later in the book.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book. I have both the audiobook and the print, as it's one of those beautiful reads that you just want to absorb into yourself in every possible medium. Caro's style and voice are so evocative and expressive, its a book you don't want to put down. So real, raw, tender, emotional. I have so many different emotional responses to it that it's actually difficult to unpick.. empathy for the author's struggles, understanding as a fellow mother of four , a shared love of wild places; her descriptions are utterly magical. It also lead to the uncomfortable realisation that I compare my own mothering with others far more than I should, my own always coming up short. Inwardly tearing myself down even as I'm feeling solidarity and awe for another woman's strength and resilience. What strange creatures we are.
I LOVED this book and will be recommending it to every woman I'm close to. I can't wait to read this author's future work.

[Kate Moreton · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There is something very intense about this moment. I am the moon, gazing down on my family from high above, watching the mothering and the caring and the juggling, hearing the calm in my voice as my heart flickers fast. And it looks like a lot. It is a lot. But I am enough, with my hands that stroke and my voice that soothes. I must be enough.”

An amazing fly-on-the-wall book where us readers get some insights to parenting 4 daughters, getting to grips with a new divorce and therefore single parenting, the different needs of 4 different children, as well as the essential part of maintaining one’s own identity whilst demands from all of that threaten to overtake you. All set in beautiful Northumberland amongst beaches and forests and twelve moons.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I loved the idea of this book, and my 2 stars are for the lovely portrayal of Northumberland and the quality of the nature writing. This side of the book I really loved and the way it was written transported me to Northumberland. Unfortunately the more personal side of the book fell really flat on me and I just felt really sad that the person spent their life escaping from perceived pressure, anxiety and mental strain. I really felt the love and dedication the person shares for their children and family unit which was really lovely, but I really wanted some kind of resolution for the author or a more clear personal growth story but it just never arrived. I know life isn’t always happy resolutions from personal troubles, but I still wanted that from this kind of book.

[Helen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a long time since I read a book slowly, rationing out the chapters, dreading coming to the end, but that’s exactly how I read this book. I’m struggling to describe how much this book meant to me. For the first time I saw large parts of my own life described by another person. Caro puts into words the parts of my life that I didn’t have words for. Like Caro, I live in Northumberland and I home educated my daughter, but my love for this book goes beyond that. It is beautifully written, a love letter to my own part of the world, and an intimate glimpse into the minutiae of family life that is so often unseen and unspoken.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisitely and bravely written memoir following the lives of a single mother and her four beautiful daughters, during a year of the pandemic. The challenges of bringing up a young family in isolated Northumberland are laid bare with brutal and heart-rending honesty. It is to nature that the family turn to time and time again to give them strength during troubled times, never more so than when they turn to the moon in its ever-changing guises, yet setting the rhythm to the year and ever constant in their shifting lives. Thoroughly recommend.