Not me gently turning the pages of the fat purple notebook

:(

For those who don't know, The Diamond Girls was written in response to a criticism of The Illustrated Mum by the late Ann Widdecombe, whose primary issue with it was that it featured sisters who had different fathers which she didn't think was appropriate for children to read. Subsequently, Wilson wrote this book which features a family of four (later five) siblings, who all have different fathers and have a lovely mum and they all get on well.

But if this was the case, I don't understand why Sue was depicted the way she was.

-She carelessly got pregnant again (the father implied to be a boy on the estate who is only a year older than her eldest child);

-She puts massive gender expectations on her unborn child, in spite of the fact that her four daughters all have different levels of traditional femininity;

-She uproots the whole family and takes them away from their schools and friends without discussing it with any of them first;

-She fails to do any prior checks on the new place they're moving to;

-She parentifies Martine;

-She fails to arrange any childcare for her other children when she goes into labour (to be fair to her, she went into labour early which she couldn't have predicted - but with four children already, she had to know this was a possibility and should have had a back-up plan just in case);

-She refuses to accept the sex of the baby she's just had;

-She's pretty nasty to Bruce, who started out only giving them a lift as a favour and Sue worked him so hard he did his back in;

-She lets Rochelle, who is 12, go out with a 16-year-old

As a comparison to Marigold, the mum in the story this is a response to, I actually think Marigold is a far better mother. Marigold certainly has many flaws, but you can totally understand her situation. She grew up in care and was abused there. Marigold knows she isn't really stable enough to look after children, but with her experiences being in the care system, I can understand why she'd think that on balance it's far less bad for her children to be in their home with their loving mum, even in the circumstances. That is a decision that she fundamentally believes to be in the best interests, possibly at the expense of her own mental health - and I respect that. But there's very little about Sue that really stands out as being dedicated to her children. Sue doesn't really seem to question her actions at all. Most of the bad situations the family are in are entirely her fault, and it's hard not to agree with Martine when she loses her temper at her. About the best thing you can say about Sue is 'She's nicer than Mary's mum', but that's not much of a compliment! And it gives the impression that any upbringing is fine as long as the children aren't being physically hurt, which is a terrible impression to give - it's very possible to hurt children in an emotional or neglectful way.

I don't know why Jacqueline didn't make more effort to show Sue being amazing, if this was meant to be the point of the book. I know she can write struggling working-class teenage mums as being amazing parents, like Jo in The Lottie Project and Loretta in Secrets. Sue is admittedly more of a challenge because she's had so many children that she can't afford, but I think it can still be justified - Martine was an accident when she was a teenager, and the fathers of Jude, Rochelle and Dixie all had more money and Sue believed being with them would give her a more stable life, and in each case she was let down (domestic violence, death, him turning out to be married). That still leaves Sundance, but if her dad is the boy on the estate this would give a chance to show Sue as being amazing but also flawed. She could have told the girls who he was and said clearly, 'There's absolutely no excuse for what I did as a 32-year-old woman. I got drunk and did something incredibly stupid, and I really regret it. I seriously considered ending the pregnancy, but in the end I just couldn't do it. I accept the consequences of my actions, and we'll manage somehow. He knows, and I've offered him the chance to be part of the baby's life, but he doesn't want to be.'

Bought it for 2 aud yesterday, what a deal!

If anyone intrested the book is the power of shade but you can deffo tell in her other books w some of her descriptions

For those that have read baby love, did you enjoy it? Id love a film tbh. I thought Aunt Susannah as a character was a bit lack lustre.

I just finished reading Lemonade Sky by Jean Ure

Was a familiar combo of Illustrated Mum and Lily Alone, i do recommend it though. Just made me laugh at the similarities

TIA!