Kate Reddy is a working mum who feels guilty for just that. Working. So guilty that she bashes up shop bought mince pies in the middle of the night, for her children to take to school the next day, in order to make them look home made. When her husband tells her that no-one expects her to make mince pies in the middle of the night after arriving back from a business trip to the states three hours ago she replies, "I expect me to."
Appearing in the novel, I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson, this book wears me out. It is both a funny yet sad look at how mothers are trying to be brilliant at everything and in the process either making themselves ill, making themselves unhappy or making their children unhappy. For Kate it is very difficult to do it all in work and family life when she has a boss that thinks leaving at five o clock is lunch time.
Then there is the guilt. She wants to work, yet feels guilty for doing do and this guilt just weighs her down and affects everything around her. Kate feels the need to keep going to prove it can be done.
So why am I using her as a heroine? Well, the first reason, the obvious reason because she is trying to make it work. She is trying to be a positive role model and demonstrate to her daughter that mummy's can work if they want to.
The second reason is the journey that Kate goes on during the course of the book. Her developing awareness that "high achievement is not confined to high flyers". The compromises she makes for the sake of her family, but also manages to find a solution, some middle ground, for the sake of her own sanity.
More Helen's Heroines