Why Mummy Drinks

Gill Sims

Oct 2017 · HarperCollins

About this eBook

The smash hit Sunday Times bestseller.

Tuesday 8th September
First day back at school. I am going to 100% nail being a school mummy this year. I can totally do this. Yes, this year is definitely going to be much better – I am absolutely not going to shout at the children, let them stuff their faces with crisps or goggle away on the iPad. And I most certainly will not slump on the sofa at the end of the day, glugging wine and muttering ‘FML’ repeatedly.

Unfortunately I have not yet actually managed to buy the bento boxes for their lunches or book jiu jitsu lessons, and I will have to learn to like green tea, as it is foul, and I have not yet mastered French plaits, but I am quietly confident that these are mere details in my grand master plan...

It is Mummy’s 39th birthday. She is staring down the barrel of a future of people asking if she wants to come to their advanced yoga classes, and polite book clubs where everyone claims to be tiddly after a glass of Pinot Grigio and says things like ‘Oooh gosh, are you having another glass?’

But Mummy does not want to go quietly into that good night of women with sensible haircuts who ‘live for their children’ and stand in the playground trying to trump each other with their offspring’s extracurricular activities and achievements, and boasting about their latest holidays.

Instead, she clutches a large glass of wine, muttering ‘FML’ over and over again. Until she remembers the gem of an idea she’s had...

Ratings and reviews

I’ve had this one waiting to be read for a while, and it was worth hanging on to! For every woman who has vowed to be a better mother, better wife, better at their career and NEVER caught without their power suit and full make-up – this is the book for you! It’s not far-fetched; rather it is scary in it’s honesty but still full of laugh-out loud moments. There are a LOT of truths contained in the pages which found me nodding my head in agreement. For me, the absolute funniest thing was the antics of Peter and Jane which made me grin like an idiot and shake with laughter. An honest portrayal of the life of every working mother who feels like she is constantly failing at everything, told in a very humorous way. Guaranteed to make you giggle! 4.5*.

Laugh out loud, page turner! I loved this book and challenge any mummies to not identify with various aspects of Elen and her family life! I especially recommend this book to ANY parent who is feeling disillusioned by the realities of "being a grown-up" - along with all the responsibilities that come with being a partner, running a home and the relentless modern day pressures of "Perfect Parenting"

Brilliant and real. If only we shared our doubts instead of trying to appear as we perceive others are there'd be a lot more laughter over glasses of wine!

About the author

Gill Sims is the author of the hugely successful parenting blog and Facebook site ‘Peter and Jane’. Her first book Why Mummy Drinks was the bestselling hardback fiction debut of 2017, spending over six months in the top ten of the Sunday Times Bestseller Charts, and was shortlisted for Debut Novel of the Year in the British Book Awards. Her globally bestselling Why Mummy series has now sold over a quarter of a million copies.
She lives in Scotland with her husband, two children and two Border terriers, because apparently one terrier didn’t cause her enough trouble.
Gill’s interests include drinking wine, wasting time on social media, trying and failing to capture her lost youth, and looking for one of the dogs when he decides to go on one of his regular jaunts, while trying to stop the other one eating unspeakable things.