The Accidental Mother - Rowan Coleman

This story is really quite a sad one. At it's heart is isolation, bereavement and a lack of trust. Two sisters aged three and six lose their mother, the only parent they have around, about six months before the start of the book. Their Godmother, the central character in the story, effectively inherits them as she was named legal guardian in the will.

She is someone who has no idea how to deal with children, who has built herself a life of comfortable loneliness, and who has no idea her best friend is dead until a social worker turns up offering her the children.

The book ensues with hilarity as she learns how children work, and they learn to trust her. There are many hilarious incidents which rotate around her insular flat and the chaotic children. Everything becomes a lot more serious once the father of the children is located and returns to take on his responsibilities. 

As she falls in love with not just the children but their father as well she comes to realise how empty her life has been, and eventually she fixes it. My only criticism of the story was Bella, she's supposed to be six years old, but her vocabulary and actions speak of someone who could more be considered pre-teen.

I'd very much like to read the next book about Sophie Mills, 'The Accidental Family'.

What was the last emotionally wrenching book you read?

Rowen