NEW RELEASE
Up and In - Deborah Disney (2014)
Maria wants the best for her family, enrolling her oldest daughter Kate in the exclusive Riverton school. This wins her membership to the mummy clique run by Bea, whose spoilt daughter Mirabella is always the centre of attention. But despite her husband Joe being a stockbroker, Maria and her daughter never quite measure up. Now after making a tactical blunder over hair ties, Maria is getting the cold shoulder from Bea - who really puts the B in bitch - and poor Kate bears the brunt of this social snobbery. With both mother and daughter desperately trying to fit in as the under-10 netball season gets underway, it seems unlikely they'll ever be given a sporting chance. This story showcases a world where motherhood is a competitive sport. It is one of the better 'mom lit' books I have read and I really enjoyed all the characters, in particular the overly organised Sonya, a former solicitor who makes spreadsheets about everything. Who knew a blow-by-blow account of a netball game could be so entertaining? Partly told in flashbacks to reveal how the relationship between Maria and the other mothers evolved, this is highly recommended to anyone seeking a satirical read about playground politics.
Up and In, the debut novel by Deborah Disney, is about the pressures women put on themselves to fit in. The summary says: "Maria and Joe have saved every available penny to give their daughters Kate and Sarah the best education possible, which to them means attending the most exclusive girls school in the state. But when Kate befriends the spoilt and moody Mirabella, Maria finds herself thrust into a high society of champagne-swilling mother-istas she hasn't budgeted for. Saturday morning netball is no longer a fun mother-daughter outing, but a minefield of social politics. While the increasingly neurotic Maria struggles to negotiate the school mum hierarchy, Joe quietly battles a midlife crisis and Kate attempts to grow up as gracefully as possible (without having her life ruined by embarrassing parents). " Up and In is out in December 2014.