The milieu that Edwards depicts in The Herd, however, I simply found emotionally immature and trite. As the fallout tears apart their friendship and ignites fury in the local community with one family pilloried for their lack of social responsibility and foresight, for the other family, justice means taking the case to court.

It feels honest, fair, and doesn't shy away from any of the arguments frequently thrown up about vaccines (f*** Andrew Wakefield, seriously). And when Bryony, afraid of being judged, tells what is supposed to be a harmless white lie before a child's birthday party, the consequences are more catastrophic than either of them could ever have imagined .Except this is MMR and how many parents were scared or ignorant or didn’t want the MMR for their babies for all sorts of reasons. I think it's better if I say this now rather than risk it coming out wrong in the heat of the moment: I find it very difficult to even look at you. With very different views on vaccinations, Bry tells a small white lie - completely unaware of impact that lie is going to have. Only if you want your relaxing Friday evening to turn into a furious row as friends row over the wine and nibbles.

As the author states in the foreword, these parents are just trying their best to get it right for their child. Elizabeth's daughter can't be vaccinated due to fits in early childhood so her mother relies on the concept of 'herd immunity' to keep her safe. Namely, how societies and individuals navigate and reconcile public health needs with personal beliefs and fears. They are godparents to each other's daughters and they trust that the safety of their children is both their top priority. Hmmmm, I almost didn’t read this when saw the blurb and realised it was all about vaccines and the title ‘The Herd’ related to herd immunity ( lesson learnt re reading blurb although It probably isen’t!

And they ended up having a really tense argument in the garden about this and I just felt so conflicted.

I'm keen that people are aware that I have chosen to vaccinate my kids; I absolutely do think it's the right thing to do. Bry has been conditioned to be fearful of vaccines due to her mother’s belief that her severely autistic and non-verbal elder brother’s condition was a direct result of receiving the MMR vaccine and, as a consequence her daughter Alba is unvaccinated. Retrospectively, I think I was probably writing about my own experience of conflict about what kind of mum I was going to be: not knowing, and feeling like there were all these external influences that I was seeking out to discover my maternal identity, but also found utterly baffling and really confusing.On the other hand however, the author has produced a book that is pretty sympathetic to the anti-vaxx movement and reeks of privilege.

The only way forward in the end is to have the courage to dip the paintbrush in the water, to swirl the bristles and clear the the murky brown to decide which bright, bold colour to paint the beginnings of a new picture. A woman with glossy French-braid pigtails and molded spectacles smiled at me from behind a marble-fronted desk.It also shows us on how relationships and friendships are fragile and how us parents want what’s best for our child even if others choices are different they still have the same love, the same protectiveness over their child/children as you yourself does. The characters weren't really developed beyond their initial stereotypes, the portrayal of marriage seems particularly outdated and the story doesn't delve into the topic at all.