Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
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A few weeks later, I was in the supermarket car park and bumped into a woman I’d not seen for a while. As I walked away from her, I was left feeling slightly crappy about my life – she’s one of those women who’ll subtly put you down, put your children down, too, given half a chance. I sat in my car, thinking, who is friends with that woman? She must have some friends. But for the life of me I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to put up with her.
Suddenly it struck me: what if you were to lose her child? What if you were so overwhelmed with work and life that you took your eye off the ball, and it was her child who went missing?
This terrified me.
Possibly the only thing worse than your own child going missing would be to be responsible for the disappearance of a friend’s.
I began writing immediately, fuelled by this fear. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is the result.
Paula Daly, January 2013
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following:
My sister, Debbie Leatherbarrow, and friend, Zoë Lea, for their unwavering support, help and encouragement, right from the start. Thanks for everything.
My marvellous agent, Jane Gregory, and the team at Gregory and Co. – Claire Morris, Stephanie Glencross and Linden Sherriff.
My wonderfully skilled editor, Rachel Rayner, as well as Corinna Barsan, Nita Pronovost, Jenny Parrott, Kate Samano and Sarah Day.
Alison Barrow, Claire Ward and everyone at Transworld. Ste Lea, Katharine Langley-Hamel, Dr Jacqueline Christodoulou, D. Anderson, Tony and Babs Daly, Christine Long, Amanda Gregson, Jackie and Iain Garside, Paula Hemmings and Adrian Stewart. Everyone at We Should Be Writing and YouWriteOn. And all the lovely ladies at Windermere Library.
Above all, love and thanks to James, Grace, Harvey and Patrick. I am so lucky.
Paula Daly lives in Cumbria with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy. She was a freelance physiotherapist and lived for a short while in France, but returned to the UK after missing the hustle and bustle. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is her first novel, and she is currently working on her next.