In The Mothers by Sarah J Naughton, a husband goes missing and it’s the women from her antenatal group who look suspicious. Barring – hopefully – the murdering and stalking. These new mums we are getting to know are not unlike the ones we know. If mum bloggers opened up about 5pm wine and skipping bath time, mums in novels are stalkers, murderers and psychopaths. If bloggers like Hurrah For Gin and The Unmumsy Mum took the sugar coating off motherhood on social media, fiction is now taking the baton.Īnd when fiction does something, it does it in a more extreme, gasp-inducing, heart-pounding way than anywhere else.
The timing of this surge is unsurprising. It can be a lonely and isolating time with many conflicting feelings.’ ‘There have been a number of books in this genre recently that focus on those difficult early days of motherhood and it’s not surprising. ‘Domestic suspense explores those darker corners in life and asks who can we trust,’ she says. It’s definitely a hot topic right now.’ĭiana Beaumont, literary agent at Marjacq, says the theme is a natural fit for these kinds of books too. ‘Lots of authors are highlighting the darker side of motherhood, leading to a spate of gripping suspense novels in this area of the market. ‘Commercial fiction centred around motherhood is definitely gaining traction of late,’ says Phoebe Morgan, Editorial Director for HarperFiction and Avon at Harper Collins. When I was coming up with an idea for my second book, maternity leave (which, disclaimer number two, I was on at the time) and its fast-tracked, intense friendships seemed like the perfect psychological thriller storm. All I knew was that I love writing about women, emotions, the complexity of female friendship and I don’t like missing an opportunity for some dark observational humour. The thing is with trends that when you’re part of them, you don’t notice. Disclaimer: my latest book The Baby Group is a domestic suspense novel about a group of women who meet at an NCT group it’s safe to say that I have a vested interest in the rise of ‘mum noir’.
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