So this will be my first review of 2014 which is exciting (also still can't get used to putting a 4 instead of a 3) and so far this is the second book that I have read so far this year and it's only been 12 days!
This book is another Milly Johnson classic and is absolutely perfect just like every one of her other novels. The story is sweet and interesting and really kept me intrigued as to what was going to happen through the the story, another one that I struggled to put down at night to eventually go to sleep. This is the kind of book that had me forcing my eyelids open just to read a few more pages.
Three South Yorkshire friends, all on the cusp of 40, fall pregnant at the same time following a visit to an ancient fertility symbol. For Helen, it's a dream come true, although her husband is not as thrilled about it as she had hoped. Not only wrestling with painful ghosts of the past, Helen has to deal with the fact that her outwardly perfect marriage is crumbling before her eyes. For Janey, it is an unmitigated disaster as she has just been offered the career break of a life-time. And she has no idea either how it could possibly have happened, seeing as she and her ecstatic husband George were always so careful over contraception. For Elizabeth, it is mind-numbing, because she knows people like her shouldn't have children. Damaged by her dysfunctional childhood and emotionally lost, she not only has to contend with carrying a child she doubts she can ever love, but she also has to deal with the return to her life of a man whose love she must deny herself. Heart-warming, up-lifting, tear-jerking and lovely, THE YORKSHIRE PUDDING CLUB is the story of how three women find themselves empowered by unexpected pregnancy. How it revitalises one woman's tired marriage, strengthens another's belief in herself and brings love and warmth to a cold and empty life.
As with other of Milly Johnson's books this one tells the story from multiple perspectives which is something that I love, I feel like I get to know the characters on a more personal level and really feel like I can connect with them because I am learning their stories of their pasts as well as the present without seeing it through the eyes of one character.
As expected it takes a little while to get to grips with these characters and to remember who is who and what past story relates to which character but in the end I feel a strong connection to all of them equally.
PLOT
In terms of story this one is focused on the lives of three best friends each with different ideas about families and children who all end up pregnant around the same time, this book tells the story of their pasts leading up to the pregnancy, their partners and love lives as well as their careers and their three very different takes on parenthood. I find that their personalities really come across well throughout the book and as I read more I found that I could distinguish the character by their personality alone. Each of the girls have their own problems and so by having the three separate perspectives we can really get to grips with these problems and their own individual ways of dealing with them whether it be unloading to someone or bottling them up.
CHARACTERS
Elizabeth - Elizabeth was never one to want children and when she ends up pregnant she is unsure about the whole thing, we learn of her past relationships as well as about her family troubles that she had growing up and it really helps us to see why she is the way she is and the reasons for her flaws in her personality and how the pregnancy and the help of her friends really helps her to grow.
Helen - Helen is in a loving relationship with her husband Simon but when she gets pregnant things between them change, she has always wanted a child more than anything and for her the decision to have the baby was always what she wanted, however now she is struggling with her marriage and must make a choice about the important things in her life her friends? her unborn baby? or her husband?
Janey - Janey was another character who was never planning on becomming a mother but when it happened she eventually came around to the idea much to the delight of her husband George who has always wanted children, we hear again of her life with him and how having a baby brings them closer together than they have ever been but she has always been very career focused and has to choose between her career and her baby.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes any of Milly Johnson's other books as well as Jenny Colgan and Alexandra Potter as these books never fail to make me laugh and cry all at the same time while also plastering a huge smile on my face.
Speak to you soon
Leigh xoxo
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