I cannot think of a more perfect book to recommend to you if you, like me, are a busy housewife and mom of little kids who’s just begun to rediscover reading.
I admit: I almost didn’t stick with this one. I almost put it down a few chapters in, because of all the sex talk. Don’t worry, there’s nothing explicit, it keeps it pretty clean; but still: a lot of talk about sex that is, strictly speaking, unnecessary.
Whenever a book talks about sex in such a casual, sensual, fanservicey way, for no reason other than to titillate the reader, it always annoys me. I feel so condescended to. Like, just write the damn book in jumbo crayons, if you’re gonna talk about sex that much, because clearly you think I am juvenile and immature.
But, Sally Hepworth had already managed to reel me in with her vibrant characters and setting, so, a few hours after putting the book down in a pearl-clutchy little snit, I came slinking back for it. I decided that I could excuse the sex stuff. After all, there was nothing too bad, and it does kinda go with the tone, I guess: lightweight, gossippy pleasure reading about a bunch of suburban housewives.
Also I felt kinda embarrassed getting as sucked into this book as I did, lol. I don’t typically go for this kind of “chick lit” stuff. The kind of book that, if my highly-intelligent parents, who suffer from the delusion that I am also intelligent, saw me reading it, they’d go: “you’re reading that? 🤨” the same way they did about my middle school manga phase. You can tell that this made an impression, lol. To this day I tend to feel like I ought to exclusively read heavier, literary, “smart person” books, and feel slightly guilty enjoying more accessible ones.
So why’d I grab this one? On an impulse: I had no time to dwell or deliberate (trying to manage my brood in the kids’ section while also shopping for my own reading material); and ChatGPT recommended this author to me because I told it I like Shari Lapena. Bit of a stretch, to call the two authors “similar.” Technically, both write “domestic thrillers,” but Lapena is more “thriller” — dark and spare and gritty — whereas Hepworth more “domestic:” more lush, upbeat, and warm: more of a “beach read” vibe. But, you know, that’s ChatGPT for you.
But hey, this book pleasantly surprised me! Sally Hepworth’s writing style here may not be lofty, highbrow, Booker Prize-winning or whatever, but it’s really, really good. Being accessible doesn’t make something bad art. Her writing is not at all lazy like you sometimes see with mainstream/ genre fiction/ chick lit writing, where you can just tell the author wasn’t even trying to think about it as they wrote it. Sally Hepworth’s writing is effective, it’s gripping, and, the cool thing is, as an author she manages to just kind of disappear so it’s like you’re right there with the characters. It’s actually genius and I wish I could write like this.
The main characters, especially Ange (who had the best character arc, imo), are vivid and likeable. The scenes really stick with you, too, like Essie at the hair salon choosing a totally new look on a whim, then spitting out her peppermint tea and falling asleep (A+ depiction of someone being “not quite right but you can’t put your finger on it,” imo). It was interesting, too, to read a novel set in Australia. I have so little experience with anything Australian, so that was cool and different.
Overall, reading this book was comparable to eating some well-made and fluffy fresh strawberry cupcakes with buttercream.
If you are a heterosexual man, I don’t imagine that you will enjoy this book. However, as a wife & mom of littles myself, this was a delight, and I do recommend it to you if you are a woman, especially a mom.
The coolest thing about this book, for me, is that it deals with some extremely heavy topics — stuff that I don’t even like to think about — but still manages to be a fun, light, highly readable book that doesn’t leave you in a helpless blob on the floor and ruin your whole week (like some stories that deal with heavy topics). It actually improves your day. Imo it takes a subtle and practiced hand to be able to do that, to write about extremely sad things without just overloading and depressing your readers. To give your readers a safe, non-crippling way of experiencing strong emotions. What a superpower, for an author.
It’s the perfect book to read for a SAHM because it’s so highly readable, you can have it open on the countertop while chopping vegetables or stirring mac and cheese. In fact, it’s so highly readable that you might find yourself, like me, still reading it even while there are dishes to clean and laundry to move to the dryer and pajamas to be put on children and suddenly it’s bedtime. I really had no business finishing this book as quickly as I did.
Also, I may or may not have already placed four more of Sally Hepworth’s books on hold at my library. 🫣 I’ll keep you posted on if they’re as good as this one.
MiTHology (4.0) 