The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Funny how life happens. I was minding my own beeswax one morning, drinking my jolting java, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and while checking Allison's site I read that Gwendolen Gross was giving away 5 books that day! Whoa!!

I was sure I was too late to come in under the 5 responses to get the book, but I emailed anyway because that's just how I roll. Within a few hours Gwendolen, who I didn't know, was emailing me back (!) and telling me I was in...like flinn! Well, she's way too cool to say "like flinn" but you get the gist.

I am now finished with The Other Mother. Actually I have been done for a few days but I needed some percolation time before discussing it here. Ready? Here we go.....

The Other Mother was one of those novels that you think about after you put it down to do the dishes or water the grass. You wonder about the characters and how they are going to resolve their conflicts because, Sista, there is conflict. This is even one of those novels that seeps into your dreams as you try to hang on to the story in all ways.

The conflict arises in the setting of every woman's neighborhood between the two main characters, Amanda, a working mom of a newborn, and Thea, a stay at home mom of three. You know early on that this story is something that you are going to relate to, no matter which side of the neighbor's fence you live.

The drama of women and their children, the drama of women wanting validation from other women, the drama of finding our own way in the engulfing sea of motherhood while trying to keep a grip on the sinking dingy of our pre-baby self, the drama of our desires, and then what all that drama pushes us to do, that is The Other Mother.

Gwendolen captured the angst, the unrelenting guilt of both sides, the self-imposed craziness mothers endure in the early years deliciously.

If you are looking for a book that will make you think, where the surprises will surprise you, where you will get to be a part of the book and the drama in your next dream sequence (that last part is totally up to you...) then this is the book for you, or for any other mother on your what to give list.

This book is worth the time. This book is worth your precious, valuable, almost non-existent, you should be cleaning/burping/grocery shopping free time.

I am so glad I emailed Gwendolen even when I thought I had no chance for a sneak peek at the book.

Funny how life happens, isn't it?