A couple of months ago we looked at new-mum lit and here's a variation on the theme: what happens when the little blighters- I mean darlings!- have grown up a bit, and their mum is on her own? Well, judging by these three books the answer is: she copes, but not without some problems along the way...
The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil is the story of Annie Baker and her 'only boy', her son Charlie (one of the cutest kids in literature) who live together happily in a small village outside Kent. Things get complicated when Annie meets charismatic divorced dad Mac through work, and they find themselves juggling their two households, and trying to have a love life...
Hens Dancing by Raffaela Barker is very similar- it's about a single mum (although the Dad is still around, and has a new partner- leading to even more dilemmas!) coping this time with three kids and living in Norfolk. Written in diary format, it's very funny, touching and evocative of summer. Venetia Summers is a countrified Bridget-Jones-with-kids.
Carry on across the cut for the third book, which is a bit different...
The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn is about Ivy Ames, newly-single mother of two living in New York, who has to make ends meet when her rich husband kicks her out and she loses her job on the same day. So she begins a business getting children into prestigious NYC schools, and discovers parents are willing to pay her a premium... but her integrity is tested to the limit. Much more of a farce than the other two, this had great success last year as one of the Richard and Judy 2005 Summer Reads.
