Blog Tour: Those Other Women by Nicola Moriarty

It's my absolute pleasure to take part in the blog tour for Nicola Moriarty's (The Fifth Letter) new book, Those Other Women. Thank you to Sam Deacon at Michael Joseph for the advanced reading copy. You can buy your copy here.

The Blurb

Poppy never thought she wanted to be a mother - until her husband got her best friend pregnant.

Now everywhere she goes, mothers are reminding her of his betrayal . . .

So Poppy creates an innocent Facebook group to vent just a little about 'smug mummies'.

Except those 'other women' are already heartily sick of being judged by non-mums and stay-at-home mums alike. Two can play at Poppy's game.

Which is when the anger spills into the real world.

Cafés become battlegrounds, playgrounds become warzones and offices have never been so divided between the have children and have lives . . .

A rivalry that was once harmless fun is suddenly spiralling out of Poppy's control.

She started this - but can she end it?

From the author of the eBook sensation The Fifth Letter comes another darkly comic, controversial and compulsive read that you're going to want to talk about with everyone you know.

My Review

Being a mother of four, you'd think I would never be able to understand why some women just do not want children. But if I say I do understand, that does not mean I wish I had never had any. I just know that for some, the maternal instinct just isn't there. And that's fine. each to their own. As far as I am concerned, every woman is entitled to her own opinion, on her own decision to have, or not to have children. 

Of course there are sadly many, many women who desperately want to be mothers, but for various reasons cannot - it took me 22 months of heartbreak and desperation to fall for my first, so I can empathise.

So when I was asked if I'd like to take part in the blog tour for this novel, and I read the blurb, I thought 'Wow - this is a very emotive subject' and dove straight in.

And emotive it is. I had wondered if it would be a case of the author siding with one side over another - them and us, the haves and have-nots (of offspring), but of course it is much more complex than that. This book proves nothing is ever black and white.

In this world, where the battle for women's equality grows stronger each day, it is sad to see so much in-fighting among the ranks. What makes one woman better than another? There are strong arguments for having children, but those who choose not to have children have strong arguments too.

Not that they should have to argue at all - somewhere, in the lives of the women in this book, they forget a person's right as an individual. Poppy, wounded by her husband having a child with her best friend, forms a new Facebook group for women who don't want children when she is barred from joining an online 'Mummies' group. We meet characters from both groups, each of them written sympathetically and could easily be you or someone you know. These women, divided into two main camps, start a vicious campaign against each other when the Facebook group is infiltrated by someone from the enemy camp, and all war breaks out over a posted comment. After all, it's too easy to vent on social media and it may well not be the most sensible thing to do (hands up, I confess I have done it myself). It leads to misunderstanding, and a pack mentality.

I did not mean for this review to turn into a discussion on motherhood, but that is what this book does - it makes you question! It's brilliant! Nicola Moriarty has written an evocative, exciting story filled with a dark humour, where you may go in on one side, then find yourself switching sides then back again. She also reminds of the important point that a woman is allowed to change her mind!

I thoroughly recommend Those Other Women. A five star read!