If you’ve ever dreamt of a new life in the country, this highly entertaining and candid account of country living might make you think again…

Fresh air, rolling fields, Cath Kidston tea towels and home-baked cake — isn’t that what Martha’s new life will be? Apparently not. Having upped sticks and moved her young family from the gritty city to Paradise, she discovers things aren’t quite that easy.

Collapsing kitchen ceilings; a plague of slugs; coffee mornings with Stepford mums and garden warfare with the neighbours are just a few of the trials. And with her husband away working in London, Martha just can’t stop thinking about the sexy builder who’s meant to be turning the house into her dream home!

Read my review underneath

At 279 pages and in diary-style it is believable I read this in a day. I enjoyed it in as much as I kept on reading but there was just something that made it unlikeable. It says it all when my favourite parts of the novel were the columns Martha wrote, which were great.

I liked the easy style it was written in but, apart from the writing style and Martha’s columns, it really could have been a lot more than it was. I’d have loved to have gotten to know the other “Stepford” wives more as well as the odd neighbours with the poplar trees.

Also Martha wasn’t the best character I’ve read, in fact she just plain irritated me. Her house is falling down around her ears and she finds out she is pregnant but she just holes herself in the bathroom… surely anyone sane would be going insane at the thought of their house falling apart. Maybe I’m just being picky.

I find it unbelievable that she contemplated cheating on her husband just because he was away a lot. Her morals were completely skewed. I also guessed who Claire’s secret was before Martha clicked on.

I think the whole book could have been much better if we could have gotten different perspectives. However I admit I did read it quickly, I just didn’t enjoy it at all.

The ending seemed rushed too, there could have been a few more chapters exploring Martha and Fin’s relationship - or lack of it - but it all seemed over with quick as anything. It was all a bit “meh”.

One last thing that irritated me was the names Daisy Waugh named Martha’s children, but that’s something that irritates with most authors when they choose the oddest names… Ripley, Dora etc - no offence to anyone with children named Ripley and Dora - it’s just a bugbear of mine.

Rating: 1/5

Tags: book review: daisy waugh, daisy waugh

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