Mummy Darlings by Emily Hourican follows the three Guinness girls (Aileen, Maureen, and Oonagh) at the dawn of the 1930s. Each sister is now grown, married, and living in three different places. As the political landscape of Britain begins to change, the girls discover issues with in their own marriages that throw them off-kilter. Alongside the Guinness girls, Kathleen, a housemaid from their childhood home, bounces around between the three sisters wherever she is needed even while her own life is bringing about new things that places her right in the center of the clash between fascism and communism.
For me personally, this book made me realize that reading historical fiction that focuses rich white women is not my cup of tea. Though each of the characters has multiple different sides to them, I found every single character extremely unlikeable. I don't believe this is anything to with the way the author has written them - I think this just my own personal preference.
While this book was not for me, I can attest that it was beautifully researched, well written, and reflects what I imagine to be the attitudes of the time it is set. Hourican is able to weave in a lot of historically accurate events with the invented pieces she created just for this story. The invention of Kathleen and Ned to allow the story to include the volatile nature of the times was a great choice and worked extremely well. Fans of historical fiction will likely love the heck out of this book.
Mummy Darlings by Emily Hourican is available now and you can pick up a copy here.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review. If you purchase a copy using my Bookshop affiliate link above, not only will I receive a small commission (which will fuel my coffee and tea addiction and help to keep me up all night reading more books to recommend to you), but you will be supporting indie bookstores as well! If you prefer Amazon, visit my Amazon storefront and click on the list titled "2023 Book Recommendations."
