Why Mummy

Book Review: Why Mummy Drinks at Christmas by Gill Sims

Posted on by Libby Price

I’ve loved all of the previous books in the ‘Why Mummy’ series by Gill Sims – and thought the one out in 2020 was the final one in the series, so I was DELIGHTED to hear there was a new one. So delighted I was even prepared to part with my own hard cash to buy it for my Kindle!

Here’s the blurb:

“Mummy has always loved Christmas. Sure, the kids turn into demons, the dinner gets burnt to a crisp and Aunt Louisa’s general staggering inappropriateness sends Mummy reaching for the nearest maximum-strength festive tipple, but nevertheless, for her, Christmas is always special.
This year, she wants nothing more than to perfectly fig up the pudding and sit by the fire reading aloud from A Christmas Carol to a rapt, rosy-cheeked audience. But, just like all Mummy’s best-laid plans, this year’s Festive Vision is in danger of being totally derailed by her chaotic family. There’s not much chance of any action under the mistletoe, and the kids are just not playing ball.
Can Mummy find her silver lining after all and bring the whole family together for one moment of harmony, so they can finally proclaim ‘Verily You Are the Queen of Christmas’? Or should she get stuck into the festive spirits and just let it all go?”

The book follows on a couple of years after the last one – and thus is again in sync with my own family! The eldest daughter being at Uni and younger son on his year out (although ours is working as a labourer for our family construction business rather than swanning about foreign parts – for the moment anyway!) Ellen (aka Mummy) is looking forward to a perfect Christmas with Jane and Peter back under her roof – but her plans start falling apart. And there starts reminiscing about Christmasses past.

The supporting cast for these flashbacks have mostly already featured in the previous books – so there are clever references and plot points that super fans will recognise (whilst technically the book would stand alone, I really think having read the rest of the series would be an advantage.)

As with the previous books – there were elements that were laugh out loud funny – and the characterisation of family life is so very, very true.

I have to confess (and I’ll whisper this, as I feel like I’m being unfaithful to a series I love) but I did occasionally get a bit bored – specifically the Christmas at Louisa’s.

Overall though, another great, fun, funny, read – and a perfect Christmas gift for the harassed Mums in your life!

Book Review: The Saturday Night Sauvignon Sisterhood by Gill Sims

Posted on by Libby Price

I’ve adored Gill Sims ‘Why Mummy….’ series, so when I saw she had a new standalone book out, I asked NetGalley for a copy – but there was tumbleweed silence from them. I thought I’d missed the boat – but then on publication date (12 May 2022) they suddenly approved a copy for me – and I’ve devoured it since! Here’s the blurb:

“‘Oh, for f*ck’s sake’ muttered Claire under her breath, as she opened the fridge to see what she could find for a no effort dinner. The children continued to fight behind her. They regarded any form of fish not encased in breadcrumbs as toxic, and were resistant enough to the delicious homemade fishfingers Claire had made for them, insisting they much preferred Captain Birdseye’s version. White wine was starting to look like quite an appealing dinner actually.  Maybe just a small glass.
‘Are you having wine, Mum?  You know you’re not supposed to have wine every night.  We did about alcohol units at school.  That’s quite a big glass of wine, how many units do you think are in it?’
’Bet the bastards didn’t tell you that wine is remarkably good at cancelling out whining though, did they?’ muttered Claire.
Claire’s family has gone nuclear. Her precious moppets keep calling Childline when she feeds them broccoli, she’s utterly Ottolenghied out at weekends, and her darling husband is having an affair with her best friend.
The question isn’t whether she needs a glass of wine, but is there one big enough?
Enter the Sauvignon Sisterhood, a new set of friends brought together by a shared love of liquid therapy. Together they might just be able to convince Claire that, like a good bottle of red, life really can get better with age. Or at least there’s more to it than the joy of an M&S non-iron school uniform.”

Yet again – I loved a Gill Sims book! Not least because of the many excellent characterisation of a real family life. Claire’s kids are in Year 4 and 6 – and with my youngest two in Years 5 and 7, I could totally relate. I loved the fact her kids threatened to call Childline (0800 double 1 double 1 – surely every child of the 80s / 90s can remember that?!) because she tried to feed them broccoli – one of mine once threatened the same when I’d left the lid off the tzatziki so it had a crust on the top #firstworldproblems

The book follows the implosion of Claire’s marriage – and her relationship with her best mate – as the ‘best mate’ and Claire’s husband have an affair. It then looks at Claire putting her life back together again, and gaining a new circle of friends – who are christened, right at the end of the book, The Saturday Night Sauvignon Sisterhood. As well as the new female friends – there are a couple of new love interests – one male and one canine.

As usual with a Gill Sims book the characterisations are great – and the true to life experiences of parenthood are spot on. It does feel like it ‘borrows’ from the ‘Why Mummy’ series in places – for example the ladies go to watch a poet perform, who could very easily have been Ellen’s sister in law from the previous series of books – but, I guess if a formula works, stick with it. (I’m now wondering if it is a cross over – now that would be cool!)

The school camping trip was horrific – but you could TOTALLY recognise the different groups of parents from your own playground experiences!!

There are a lot of twists and turns – one of them in particular quite shocking – which I felt really added to the book. Some pretty serious subjects subsequently get discussed.

Overall another fabulous book from Gill Sims which I would thoroughly recommend. And it’s available right now!

P.S. I have tried to edit out exclamation marks from this review as I do tend to use them with abandon – but it sounds like Gill has someone who does that from her own book drafts – so I’m clearly in good company with excessive punctuation usage!!