Published 17th March 2022 by HQ.
From the cover of the book:
Even happy families have their secrets…Since the sudden death of her husband, Naomi has steadily rebuilt the life they shared in the village of Tilsham by the sea.
Her eldest daughter, Martha, is sensible and determined – just like her father was – and very much in control of where her life is going. If she could just get pregnant with her husband, life would be perfect.
Willow, the youngest, was always more sunny and easy-going, yet drifted through life, much to her father’s frustration. But now, with charming new boyfriend, Rick, she has a very good reason to settle down.
The three women are as close as can be. But there are things Naomi has kept from her daughters. Like the arrival of Ellis, a long-lost friend from way back, now bringing the fun and spark back into her life. And she’s certainly never told them that her marriage to their father wasn’t quite what it seemed…
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The direction of Naomi's life has changed since the sudden death of her husband, and now out from under his shadow she finds herself content with the existence she has shaped for herself in their beautiful home in Tilsham by the sea.
Naomi's elder daughter Martha takes very much after her father. Sensible and determined she has always had her life mapped out, but even though she has a loving husband who is an equal partner in their marriage and a fulfilling career, the longed for pregnancy that she felt sure would follow naturally continues to elude her. Motherhood would make her life perfect.
Younger daughter Willow has always been the one with her head in the clouds. As an easy-going dreamer, who always frustrated her father, she has drifted along up until now, but with charming and steady new man Rick in her life she suddenly finds herself with her feet firmly on the ground and contemplating some very big changes that she cannot share with her mother and sister.
In the wake of her father's death Martha now considers herself head of the family, and although the three woman are close her determination to dictate the course of all their lives as he would have done is putting their loving relationships under strain. Martha's frustration at her inability to become pregnant is taking over her life; she constantly nags Willow to wake up to reality and settle down with her apparently eligible boyfriend; and she is set on her mother selling up the family home and moving into a smaller house nearer to her and Willow; but although she is convinced she is doing all this for their own good her bossiness is making her deaf and blind to what is going on around her and there are things she does not know.
Naomi has met someone from her past who makes her heart sing again after a long and difficult marriage. How can she share the truth with Martha and Willow about the reality of her marriage to their father, and tell them about her new found happiness? And Willow is increasing trapped in a relationship that is changing her into someone she does not recognise. What does the future hold for mother and daughters?
Mothers and Daughters is a beautifully written and thoroughly compelling family drama about the powerful undercurrents of secrets that lie deep beneath apparently still waters.
This is what I like to call a quiet book, even though some pretty shocking events take place in the course of this story, because the weight of this tale lies very much in the powerful emotions that Erica James' delicious writing evokes as you become enmeshed in the trials and tribulations of Naomi, Martha and Willow. No spoilers here folks, because you really need to read this one for yourselves, but each of these women has secrets that they find themselves unable to share, which force them to look at themselves and their relationships with each other in a whole new light, and we are right at their sides through the dizzy highs and the desperate lows as they do.
I love how James explores a wealth of themes that delve into the complexities of family dynamics between generations in these pages, encompassing the playful and affectionate moments as well as the petty irritations that plague all families as they rub along together, underpinned by fierce and protective love, and much of what she writes about will strike a chord with readers at many different stages in their lives. Beyond this she deftly examines the darkest moments that many go through too, showing real insight into how these events can provoke misplaced feelings of blame, guilt and shame, and highlighting the circular nature of dysfunctional patterns of behaviour that are not easy to break.
My absolute favourite this about this book, as a woman of not so tender years, is the way James writes about Naomi. There has been so much written about the expectations placed on younger women to have it all, which James covers nicely through the Martha and Willow here, but it is a rare and beautiful thing to read about how expectation affects older women too. Martha, and to some degree Willow as well, see Naomi's life as being over and her one purpose to now be a doting grandmother to their own children, and they find it very hard to see her as a woman beyond the role they have given her. Older woman can and do live fulfilling lives, and are able to make decisions for themselves, after their children have grown up, despite what their children may believe. It's important to remember that there are sides to people we do not see, especially when they are our parents, and I applaud James for highlighting this so well. More please!
This is absolutely cracking read that draws you in and keeps you entertained from cover to cover. I promise you that you will shed a tear or two before you are done, and you might think a little differently about the way you view your own family relationships in the process too.
Mothers and Daughters is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to HQ for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
In 2020, Erica received the Nielsen Silver Award for sales of over a quarter of a million copies for both Love and Devotion and Tell It to the Skies; she has previously won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Gardens of Delight and is a Number One bestseller in Norway.
A keen gardener herself, Erica lives in Suffolk and has a fondness for Lake Como, Formula One motor racing and travel.
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