M is for Mummy

Product Information

Lucy, an exhausted mother of two boys, misses her life as an accomplished cellist as she no longer has time to play due to trying to parent her boys and keep her marriage afloat. Although author Katy Cox has based her life as a professional musician and a mum of boys, on the main character, I can honestly say that M IS FOR MUMMY, is one those page turning stories that has plenty of laugh out situations, plus with lots of other mixed emotions. There should be more books like this around that tell you what life really is like with children who are individual. My heart swelled with sympathy every time the main character found herself in a difficult situation, overwhelmed and completely exhausted. Her struggles through everything that she is going through and coming to terms with in this book are so well-paced and believable that I felt I knew Lucy and I was part of her friendship group.

From having worked with some children a bit like Stanley I get the feeling that this is rather authentic, and all the concerns Lucy expresses are realistic and valid. The precocious little toddler is so well-written that he steals the show from the minute he appears on the page. Royal Mail will aim to deliver your parcel the following working day but it can sometimes take longer.I loved these aspects of the book and how Lucy tries to hold everything together, it was very relatable and the book is also sweary, funny and well-written. As a teacher of young children, I come into contact with children like Stan, increasingly, and the difficulties that parents have, of accepting that maybe, there is something else that might be making their child act in certain ways. So many times, I nodded knowingly at the events Lucy was going through regarding motherhood and adjusting to a new way of life and body. Thank you to the author for this quote, it completely stuck with me, as I have been self-obsessing over just how many traits my son portrays, and spend hours convincing myself “maybe it is just behavioural problems” so to read this has helped me realise that actually he does display some autistic traits and the more I brush them off the less chance of a diagnosis, so thank you Lucy! A solid mummy memoir but I wanted more of a focus on the autism aspect and less of Lucy getting drunk and her whole comedy show.

As if bringing up two children wasn’t enough, Lucy is concerned about the fact that her once thriving marriage is now completely and utterly devoid of romance.Generally, Lucy and Ed have a good relationship, even if Stanley and baby Jack mean that romance has waned a little. This book resonates so much on so many levels with me (not all) and I imagine any mother will feel an affinity with Lucy in some ways. Lucy begins to realise that maybe Stanley is on the Autistic Spectrum and initially struggles to accept this.