When Sophie Bennett moves from a quiet, sleepy suburb of Toronto to glitzy west London, she doesn’t know where she has landed: Venus or Mars. Her three-year-old daughter Kaya attends Cherry Blossoms, the most exclusive nursery in London, where Sophie finds herself adrift in a sea of Alpha mums. These mothers are glamorous, gorgeous, competitive and super rich, especially Kelly, the blonde, beautiful and bitchy class rep.
Struggling to fit in and feeling increasingly isolated, Sophie starts The Beta Mum, an anonymous blog describing her struggles with the Alpha mums. But when her blog goes viral, she risks ruining everything for herself and her daughter. How long will it be until they discover her true identity? Is her marriage strong enough to survive one of her follower’s advances? And will she ever fit in with the Alpha mums?
Isabella is a former doctor who decided to write The Beta Mum after the success of her blog. Want to know more? Well, here Isabella shares ten things about her and her debut novel...
10 Things You Need To Know About Me And My Book:
- As cliché as it is, I’ve always wanted to write a book. The first time I realized it was when I was 10 years old and my English teacher read one of my short stories about a witch and said ‘maybe one day you’ll become a writer.’
- I was better at Biology than English in school, so I became a doctor instead! But the dream was always there and after I stopped working as a doctor to raise my children, I started a humorous blog about living in west London, www.nottinghillyummymummy.com Through the blog, I was asked to write a feature for The Saturday Times newspaper and thought that perhaps I had enough talent to write a book. Rightly or wrongly!
- It took me two years to write the book but before then I had started about ten books without ever finishing them. No one told me quite how hard it was to write a book! The best thing I did to help me finish writing my book was to go on the Faber Academy Novel Writing Course. It helped with my motivation and provided so much support and feedback.
- Like they always say ‘write about what you know’ so that’s what I did. I am a mum living in west London, so that’s what I wrote about. I hear so many funny and interesting stories all the time and think ‘Oooh, I need to put that in my book!’ That’s where I get my inspiration from. From everyday conversations and events.
- The book is entirely fictional but based on some true events and experiences I have had or stories I have heard. The characters are all fictional and I am not the main character Sophie and the bitchy mum Kelly does not exist either. I did go to a play date once when the housekeeper thought I was there for an interview and started asking me questions about my childcare experience. It was rather mortifying!
- Not all west London mums are awful. I live in west London and I love it. Most of my friends are west London mums too, so there are plenty of lovely mums here. But no one wants to read about boring, nice, mums who are nice to everybody. There would not be a story. But there are so many interesting characters who live in and out of west London, it’s fascinating.
- I loved writing the bitchy mum’s character, Kelly. She is so awful and yet, I have heard people speaking like her in real life and I think that we should all be kinder to each other. So the moral of my story is: be kinder to each other.
- It is not a serious book; it is meant to be entertaining, funny and a light, summer read. Anyone who is offended by it is taking it way too seriously. I hope my readers have fun with it and enjoy it!
- Writing is full of obstacles: the writing bit, then the getting-published bit and then the selling-and-marketing bit. It is a hard, long road! And I am still working on all three…
- To any aspiring writers: my tutor once told me that it isn’t about how much talent you have, it’s about tenacity. Sitting down every day on that chair to write, word after word, and then throwing your first draft away and re-writing the book, and then editing, editing, editing. It’s not for the faint-hearted! But I am so proud that I finished it and that I am now able to share it with the world. And I hope everyone enjoys it!
Check out Isabella Davidson's blog, Notting Hill Yummy Mummy, and sign up for news! You can also take part a Goodreads Giveaway for a chance to win a copy of The Beta Mum -Adventures in Alpha-Land.
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