Mum in the Middle

Jane Wenham-Jones

Jun 2018 · Sold by HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

‘Fresh, funny and wise’ Katie Fforde ‘I love Jane’s writing!’ Jill Mansell ‘feel-good’ Woman and Home

Tess has downsized to a lively new town and is ready for “me” time. But her Zen-like calm is tested by her boomerang offspring, who keep fluttering back to the nest (usually with a full bag of dirty washing) and by her elderly mother’s struggle to hold on to her independence.
Tess is also surprised to discover that there are dark resentments simmering beneath the vintage charm of her new hometown and a spate of vandalism has exposed the rift between the townsfolk and new arrivals like Tess.
Tess enlists the help of gruff newspaper editor Malcolm to get to the bottom of the mystery but when her ex-husband pays an unexpected visit and her mother stages a disappearance, Tess starts to feel her new-found freedom wearing just a little thin...

Ratings and reviews

Tess has left the former marital home in London and bought a run-down house in a rural village where her BFF lives. Now her three children are adults in work or at university she is looking forwards to spending time with friends and not having the smell of take-away food permeating every room of the house. What she finds is rather different to the idyll she imagined. First, a former TV star lives next door and is renovating a glorious old house in order to run it as a B&B. Second, her mother appears increasingly out-of-sorts and has had a 'turn' necessitating a visit to the hospital and various scans. Third, although they may have lives of her own her three children appear to believe that dropping in and staying for long weekends (or longer) along with their friends and dirty washing is okay. Fourth, there may be someone in the village with a grudge against DFLs (Down From London-ers) buying property and raising prices in the village. Add in dodgy plumbing and a suave architect Tess is beginning to think it's not all sheep and meadows in the country! This was absolutely perfect beach reading. I laughed along with Tess at the cluelessness of her children and her ex-husband (who thinks its okay to come and stay when his second wife is 'having a turn' AKA had enough of him), sympathised at the dodgy drainage in the downstairs loo and loved the way everything got solved by a bottle of merlot (or chablis or frascati etc). Recommended for women with teenagers, women who don't have kids, women with elderly parents or just women doing the best they can. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

About the author

Jane Wenham-Jones is a journalist and presenter and the author of nine books. She has written for a wide range of magazines and national newspapers, is a regular columnist for Woman’s Weekly and an agony aunt for Writing Magazine. As a presenter, she has hosted the Romantic Novel of the Year awards since 2011, and often pops up on radio and TV. A regular interviewer on the literary festival circuit, she has been “in conversation with” hundreds of top authors and celebrities and is a founder member of BroadstairsLit – literary events throughout the year – in the seaside town of Broadstairs, where she lives. But her major claim to fame is being the one to first coin the term “Writer’s Bottom”! Strange but true...