Waiting for the Miracle by Anna McPartlin

Time taken to read – 1 day

Pages – 397

Publisher – Zaffre

Source – Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

2010

Caroline has hit rock bottom. After years of trying, it’s clear she can’t have children, and the pain has driven her and her husband apart. She isn’t pregnant, her husband is gone and her beloved dog is dead.

The other women at her infertility support group have their own problems, too. Natalie’s girlfriend is much less excited about having children than her. Janet’s husband might be having an affair. And then there’s Ronnie, intriguing, mysterious Ronnie, who won’t tell anyone her story.

1976

Catherine is sixteen and pregnant. Her boyfriend wants nothing to do with her, and her parents are ashamed. When she’s sent away to a convent for pregnant girls, she is desperate not to be separated from her child. But she knows she might risk losing the baby forever.

My Review

Split over a duo timeline with multicharacters, 1976 we meet Catherine a girl who falls for sweet talk and ends up in a horrible position and sent to the nuns. Present day, well 2010 and we meet Caroline, desperate for children, attending group for women also finding it difficult to conceive. We flip between both timelines, a pregnancy with a young girl and in that time the stigma and struggles that come with it. To Caroline and the group of unlikely friends all going through their own struggles, all very different.

The book packs an emotional punch, we feel for poor Catherine who gets heartache and disappointment again and again with very much there but the grace of God go I vibes. Then the obsession, heartache, trials and tribulations of trying to get pregnant, loss, relationship impact, devastation ooft it is heartbreaking. Whilst all that sounds so dark and it is very emotive it also has lightness, joy, irish humour, love, friendship, strength and determination, so so very much determination for all of the issues these women face.

McPartlin has a way of writing characters that you can’t help but investing in and or relating to. Drawing a wealth of emotions and reactions as we experience everything the ladies are as we have reveals and more exposures to their daily lives and getting back up again when they go through some of the lowest times and battles a woman can face. 4.5/5 for me, I have read McPartlin before and sure I have one or two others on my tbrm.

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