Review by
K.T Sullivan
The
school year opens at St. Ambrose. Children full of anticipation fear, and
nerves hustle into the building to see what lies in store for them. Their
mothers anxiously wait outside to see how the pecking order shakes out for them
too. They are the severest critics of each other’s child raising abilities,
husbands, and households. Even cake baking and laundry skills are graded.
Beatrice is the reigning queen and decides who gets picked for committees and
who does not. Heather is on the outside, peeking in. How can she be seen
without being assertive and upsetting the status quo? How to stage the palace
coup of Bea while looking like an innocent bystander?
Hornsby
has checked the pulse of the moms everywhere. Mean girls grow up and don’t
change their spots. Instead they bring their sharpened claws back for another
round. The lunch room mentality never leaves them. The true journeys of
acceptance and validation don’t stop after graduation. The story reflects back
on the mom school culture and the picture rings true. The women are easily relatable
as are the school activities. The children’s final test questions in the last
chapter are fun. She had me checking the Internet for the ones I didn’t know.
Gill Hornby writes a column for The
Telegraph and is the author of several non-fiction books. She lives in
Berkshire, England with her husband and their four children.
Connect with Gill at:
