Mummy's marriage is feeling the strain, her kids are running wild and the house is steadily developing a forest of mould. With a house that needs constant upkeep and children who are making constant demands, Ellen decides she needs to go back to work to earn some much needed cash. Being a parent is difficult and stressful, which means that parents struggle to get on with each other amidst the rowing, the pressure and the conflicting schedules. As soon as we got there I remembered why I don’t use the flipping National Trust membership – because National Trust properties are full of very precious and breakable items, and very precious and breakable items don’t really mix with children, especially not small boys.

The eponymous “Mummy” (aka Ellen) has two fairly typical children, a husband who is constantly off travelling the world on business trips and a loyal dog who remains fairly sane whatever the world throws at him. We are led to believe that once the dream wedding has happen and the kids have arrived, that that’s it.But I could give you a long list of answers as to why THIS mummy drinks, so I think that probably qualifies me enough to follow and pass comment on the sequel. You can follow the passage of time through the story way easier and it just feels a bit more personal when you think you’re reading someone else’s diary – a glimpse into their inner thoughts as written down by them. She seemed a bit too ditzy to me – though maybe that’s how all of us mums are and we’re just too sleep deprived to realise it! Mummy dreams of a quirky rural cottage with roses around the door and chatty chickens in the garden.

One of my favourite sections was when Ellen’s mother’s stepdaughter goes into labour and Ellen steps up to the plate to help her out. Obviously the most terrifying thing about this is that there are people out there who are under the impression that Mummy knows anything at all about parenting, and is in some way a responsible adulting type of person. Mummy’s marriage is feeling the strain, her kids are running wild and the house is steadily developing a forest of mould.In the end I suppose that’s what marriage comes down to – finding the one special person you want to annoy and be annoyed by for the rest of your life. Trying to live up to her single party-girl image at work as well as running a household single-handedly proves to be something of a challenge. The observations are extremely perceptive and there are numerous situations which I could relate to, despite neither being married or a Mum. I will confess right now that I must be the only mama at the nursery gate who hasn’t read Why Mummy Drinks.

Why Mummy Swears was like reading all about my own thoughts and struggles, but it helped me to laugh at them, which for this sweary mummy was a welcome relief. Sims is the author of Why Mummy Drinks which was the Sunday Times Fiction Bestseller of 2017, Why Mummy Swears published in 2018, and Why Mummy Doesn't Give A **** published in 2019. It reminded me very much of Allison Pearson’s “How hard can it be”, in terms of both content and style.She surprises herself by getting a very good job indeed, but somehow fails to mention the family and kids to her work colleagues. while stoutly shod pensioners tutted disapprovingly and drafted angry letters to the Daily Mail in their heads. The Boy Child Peter is connected to his iPad by an umbilical cord, The Girl Child Jane is desperate to make her fortune as an Instagram lifestyle influencer, while Daddy is constantly off on exotic business trips. However Ellen soon became the voice of reason, the mama who was doing her best, the mama who still had ambition, the mama who wasn’t perfect and the mama who I was cheering for at every turn of a page. Gill’s interests include drinking wine, wasting time on social media, trying and failing to capture her lost youth, and looking for one of the dogs when he decides to go on one of his regular jaunts, while trying to stop the other one eating unspeakable things.

I did appreciate the author’s observations of the humour in everyday situations, and the honesty in the mother’s responses and thoughts. She is staring down the barrel of a future of people asking if she wants to come to their advanced yoga classes, and polite book clubs where everyone claims to be tiddly after a glass of Pinot Grigio and says things like 'Oooh gosh, are you having another glass? Or if she did, she would deal with it in a brisk and no-nonsense, jolly hockey sticks manner, like the games captain telling the Upper Fourth off for having a crush on her.

And yet the way it is told, with the little observations on daily family life and the conflicts between characters makes it so addictive. This leaves her torn between her beloved “moppets” and her career, plus her “People”-hating hubby Simon.