Review: The Mummyfesto by Linda Green

When Sam, Jackie and Anna successfully campaign to save their children's school lollipop lady, they are asked by a TV reporter if they fancy standing in the general election. 

It is, of course, a crazy idea: Sam's youngest son has an incurable disease, Jackie is desperate for another child and her mum is struggling with Alzheimers, Anna's teenagers - and marriage - are in danger of going off the rails. 

But sometimes the craziest ideas turn out to be the best. And just think what they could do if they got to run the country...

Review: I really didn't know what to expect with this book. I had heard lots of people raving about it on Twitter and so when it was on offer the weeks it was released I thought that I would pick it up. Initially I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to understand the politics of it all, but what I actually found was a book I was completely and utterly sucked into!

I read The Resolution before I read this book and so I had been introduced to all three of the Mums involved in The Mummyfesto. I really liked straight-talking teacher Jackie. I love the fact that she wears high heels even though they are completely impractical for her job as teacher and mum and I thought that her struggle throughout the book and her 'secrets' (which I won't reveal, of course) were really well written. I think that all three Mums, Jackie, Sam and Anna must have been quite difficult to write at some points in the story because they do all go through immense struggles, but I think that this is one of the things which is so endearing about the novel. The struggles that they face are real life struggles, and things that so many women and mums out there have to go through and yet they are handled so well and so explained so clearly in this novel.

I didn't think at the start of the novel that there would be so many bits that would make me cry, that it was just a jolly tale of three mums trying to take on parliament, but I found myself sobbing at more that one point in this book and yet this shows just how well the novel is written. You build up a relationship with these mums and their children, you get to know them, go through their ups and downs and cry alongside them when they cry. Readers should be warned not to read the ending of the book in public and run the risk of embarrassing themselves on a commuter train as I did!

All in all I think that there is something for most readers in this novel. There is excitement, some politics, some sadness and a lot of real-life funny moments. The writing is wonderful, everything is knotted together to neatly and with a real 'feel good' factor. I think that most readers will fall in love with the mums and enjoy sharing life's trials and tribulations with them. All that's left for me to say is-I hope there's a sequel!