Sometimes, these women may become life-long friends; sometimes you will barely remember them by your child’s second birthday. It doesn’t matter. For the first few months, they will be the people you will spend most of your time with, in the bubble known as maternity leave. Whilst your ‘real’ friends are at work, lunching in places that don’t have high chairs and staying up past 9 p.m., these ‘baby’ friends will be there.
Posh, Scary, Sporty and Ginger, these last six months have been a rollercoaster of exasperation, exhilaration and exhaustion. We’ve experienced the highs and the lows, and had a few loop-the-loops, but I’ll be forever grateful that I had you to share it with. Sometimes it’s the friends you don’t choose who turn out to be exactly what you need.
Now, before I go commando to the biscuit shop, can anyone tell me how to get Weetabix out of my hair?
From ‘The Undercover Mother’
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Emma Robinson's next hilarious novel Happily Never After is about mothers, daughters and finding a little magic in the everyday. To hear more about this, sign up here!
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Like Jenny, I thought I had parenting sussed. And then the baby arrived. For the next six months I spent half my day adoring this tiny human being and marvelling how we could have made something so perfect. The other half was spent sobbing about the lack of sleep, moaning that no one had told me the truth, and rubbing my nipples with ice cubes. The Undercover Mother was the novel I wanted to read. I couldn’t find it, so I wrote it.
I know you’re busy, but please help me to tell others about The Undercover Mother by writing a quick review. (And if you do it now, you won’t even have to add it to your no-doubt giant to-do list!) This is my first book, so I’d love to hear what you thought of it, whether you’d like to hear more about Jenny and the Spice Mums and which of them you most identified with (please do not say that awful woman on the beach!). On a serious note, reviews make a huge difference in helping other people find my book and I am grateful for every single one.
I also love hearing from my readers. Come and join the fun on my Facebook page Motherhood for Slackers. They are a friendly bunch and we even let boys in. You can also find me on Twitter or my website. Chatting to you will make a lovely change from persuading teenagers that Shakespeare isn’t boring, listening to my son talk about Minecraft or being bossed around by my six-year-old daughter.
Stay in touch!
Emma.
www.motherhoodforslackers.com
Acknowledgements
I’d like to say a hugely grateful thank you to my amazing publisher Isobel Akenhead for her enthusiasm and support and to Kim Nash and the whole Bookouture family for making me so welcome.
Everyone on the Writer’s Workshop Self Edit Course 2016, especially the incomparable Debi Alper and the best beta readers in the world: Kate Machon, Elizabeth Symonds, Martin Ross and Marie Dentan.
All my friends who read early versions, particularly Carrie ‘Queen of Punctuation’ Harvey. The readers of my blog – Motherhood for Slackers – who are an unending source of encouragement and kind words. Your likes, comments and shares have given me more pleasure than you can ever know.
My wonderful husband who makes everything in my life work and who never moans when he comes home on my day off to find the house in the same state as when he left. My hilarious children who give me the best one-liners and the best cuddles. My mum and dad, who brought me up to believe I could do anything I set my mind to and have been reading, and keeping, my stories since I was five. I love you.
And lastly, a huge thank you to all the parents out there who tell it like it really is: the good, the bad and the downright awful, so that the rest of us can breathe a huge sigh of relief and know that it’s not just us.
Published by Bookouture
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
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www.bookouture.com
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Copyright © Emma Robinson 2018
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Emma Robinson has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-78681-358-9
The Undercover Mother_A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about love, friendship and parenting Page 26