REVIEW: Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker

Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker published by Viper

“Mummy” has everything – a nice home and money in the bank, however she doesn’t have child of her own. When she is out shopping one day, so notices Kim - heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop and the temptation to give the child a better upbringing is too good to resist and so she walks out of the shop with little Tonya. However, feisty Tonya is not the daughter that “Mummy” was hoping for.

As Tonya fiercely resists Mummy's attempts to make her into the perfect child, Kim is demonised by the media as a 'scummy mummy', who deserves to have her other children taken too. Haunted by memories of her own childhood and refusing to play by the media's rules, Kim begins to spiral, turning on those who love her.

Though they are worlds apart, Mummy and Kim have more in common than they could possibly imagine. But it is five-year-old Tonya who is caught in the middle.

This is a very dark story, and when you are reading it, you won’t believe it is a debut novel as it is so well structured and written.

There were times when reading this book that I had to stop and walk away from it, as it was harrowing, and disturbing but then there were other times when I couldn’t sleep as the characters were constantly on my mind and so I had to read a few more chapters in the middle of the night to find out what was going to happen.

A truly remarkable debut!

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