🌠 It's the first of the month and my featured book is Little Disasters 🌠
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| Simon & Schuster 2 April 2020 My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book |
You think you have the perfect family.
But everything can be broken.
Liz and Jess have been friends for ten years, ever since they both started a family. But how well do they really know each other?
When Jess arrives at hospital with a story that doesn’t add up, Liz is the doctor on call.
Jess has devoted her life to family and home. But she is holding so many secrets.
As the truth begins to emerge, Liz is forced to question everything she thought she knew: about Jess, and about herself.
When something feels so personal, how do you stay professional?
What did I think about it..
Liz's work as a hospital paediatric doctor brings her into contact with different levels of trauma, some of which are caused accidentally, whilst others need more investigation, however, they all leave Liz with a feeling of professional unease, but she knows, deep down, that whatever her personal feelings, her responsibility always has to be in the best interest of her young patients. When her friend, Jess arrives at the hospital with her baby, 10 month old Betsey, Liz is caught between professional duty and genuine concern about what has happened to both Betsey and Jess.
Beautifully described in emotional detail what follows is a multi layered and complex story which looks minutely at the overwhelming notion of complicated motherhood, especially when the nurturing instinct is controlled by feelings of anxiety which threaten to spiral out of control.
Liz's work as a hospital paediatric doctor brings her into contact with different levels of trauma, some of which are caused accidentally, whilst others need more investigation, however, they all leave Liz with a feeling of professional unease, but she knows, deep down, that whatever her personal feelings, her responsibility always has to be in the best interest of her young patients. When her friend, Jess arrives at the hospital with her baby, 10 month old Betsey, Liz is caught between professional duty and genuine concern about what has happened to both Betsey and Jess.
Beautifully described in emotional detail what follows is a multi layered and complex story which looks minutely at the overwhelming notion of complicated motherhood, especially when the nurturing instinct is controlled by feelings of anxiety which threaten to spiral out of control.
Emotionally taut and desperately sad in places, Little Disasters, is a real roller coaster of a read which leaves you wanting to reach into the page and hug the characters close but even as you watch the jigsaw puzzle pieces start to slot together you can't help but wonder if there is more to this story than is being revealed and, of course, this talented author doesn't disappoint or shy away from describing difficult subjects. The torment of maternal culpability, the sheer anxiety of knowing something is wrong and not being able to fix it, and the awful dilemma of a doctor whose professional duty goes far beyond the bounds of friendship.
Little Disasters is another absolute triumph from this talented author whose writing just goes from strength to strength with each succeeding novel. I wasn't sure how she would top the excellent Anatomy of a Scandal but Little Disasters is a worthy addition to her collection of exceptional stories.
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| ©Phil Mynott |
Sarah Vaughan is a former journalist who now lives in Cambridge with her family. This is her third novel.
Twitter @SVaughanAuthor #LittleDisasters
@simonschusteruk
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