FINDING MOTHERING INSTINCT (The Accidental Mother - Rowan Coleman)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	The Accidental Mother - Rowan Coleman
Date:	03/08/06 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A super and convincingly well written book.

Disadvantages: None at all.

I had no preconception about the work of Rowan Coleman when I bought this book, and I suppose was tempted by its' light hearted cover, and the short description that gave the main plot of the story. I wanted something light to read, but something that wasn't trashy or too over-stated, and the book seemed to hit the right cord with me.

The story revolves around the life of Sophie, a career woman almost at the peak of her career. She cares passionately about how she looks. She is neat and articulate, and lives with a cat called Artemis. Unable to sustain relationships that get in the way of order, Sophie would seem the least likely of people to tolerate children, though things are going to change, and change drastically, when she inherits the care of her two Godchildren, after a promise made flippantly to a friend.

It's the kind of story that has been done in movies, and probably done to death in that form, although the book is refreshingly funny and appealing, dealing with so many issues that I believe it merits both the price of the book at a modest 6.99 GBP and the time spent reading it. The children within the book are well portrayed and the feelings that they have adjusting to a new home environment rather real but rather disturbing at the same time. Insecurity, loss of familiar surroundings, and perhaps loss of trust in life make them vulnerable, and after all, Sophie is only supposed to look after them for a short period, so the involvement was supposed to have been a surface involvement, though matures with the written word being superbly apt, and very well structured.

The other characters within the book are also believable and quite real in both their approach and reaction to circumstances, and I sailed through this book in a week of evening reading, looking forward to the next installment and actually feeling empathy for the characters on all sides of the tale told. Izzy and Bella, the children are complex little characters, though even here, the author has managed to paint a wonderful picture of how a youngster deals with trauma, and how her older sister takes on the role of responsibility, though how each remember things from their past in very different ways.

I like the style of writing very much, and believe that the writer, who has also written “Growing up Twice”, “After Ever After” and “Woman Walks into a Bar” is well worth reading. It's probably chic lit at its' best although there are many words of wisdom within the pages, in the ways in which Sophie deals with situations that she has never had to face before, with little or no experience of what real caring relationships are about, with a clueless mother who suggests “Dr. Roberts Complete Dog Training and Care Manual” as a guide to how Sophie should deal with crisis after crisis.

Not wishing to give a lot of the story away, it's a modern day tale, and a very valid one, and I believe it serves more use than just a work of fiction, in that many of the ideas demonstrated by the character of Sophie were ones that I feel could be used in real life situations, in order to help both children and adults respect each others' feelings in a period of adjustment.

It also dealt with work relationships, routines that are changed, the importance of having support of those around you, but most of all, learning self awareness and capability by hazard, rather than in a designed way. It's warm, it's friendly, and groundbreaking in that I came out of the other side of the story seriously thinking about how adaptable a person should be in order to enhance an otherwise routine existence, and avoid the safety of success, and feeling that the wealth Sophie found was something that money cannot buy but that experience can.

A super book and one that I would thoroughly recommend. I shall read it again, as it's a good story. Will Sophie cope ? Will Social Services find the children's errant father ?

You will have to read it to find out.



Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Arrow (16 Mar 2006)
Language English
ISBN: 0099465051


Also available in hardback from Amazon and here I would actually recommend the paperback version, since the hardback is a pricey alternative at 18.06 GBP

You'll love it.

Summary: A super read.