There is an interesting theme to this book as it is based on a young woman called Olive who does not want children. This topic is handled sensitively and realistically but with quite a light touch. Olive is a successful magazine editor and in her eyes, to some extent, has it all. She has good friends, a nice place to live and a man she loves. Things start to unwind when it becomes clear that the people in her life don’t feel the same way. Of her friends Bea already has children, Cec is having a baby and Isla is desperate for children of her own and is undergoing fertility treatment. The four of them have a very strong bond having been friends since childhood but this bond is put under a lot of strain because of their diverse situations and lifestyle choices. Lastly, Olive’s long-standing partner wants children and this is causing tensions between the two of them. All these things turn Olive’s life upside down but she is determined to stand her ground. I wanted Olive’s story to have a happy ending and it does in a sort of unpredictable way. This is an easy to read book and although there are a number of topical issues covered it never feels too heavy. The characters are likeable and easy to relate to and I am sure the question of having children and fertility will resonate with many women. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me and ARC copy of this book.

Olive has been best friends with Bea, Isla, and Cecily since school. The four of them have always been close.
However, now in their early 30s, Olive can't shake the feeling that they're heading down different paths.
Bea is married with three children.
Cec is pregnant with her first child.
Isla is currently going through IVF.
Olive is pretty certain she never wants to have children - a choice which causes her to question whether she’s being “left behind.”

This book takes a sensitive look at adulthood, milestone decisions, and the ‘taboo’ about remaining “childfree.”

Have you ever noticed that once we reach a certain age (somewhere between mid-to-late-20s) small talk always leads to the same questions...
“So, are you married?”
“Do you have kids?”
It’s hard to ignore how society puts this pressure on us to “settle down.” And if life leads you down a less traditional path, does that mean you’re “failing” at being an adult?

Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been certain that I never want to have children. Over the years I’ve listened as friends and family insisted that I’ll change my mind once I’m older. It’s not that I dislike kids, I’ve just never felt that maternal instinct. Olive’s thoughts echoed my own so closely.

Even if you don’t share Olive’s view, her character is written in such a way that you can easily empathise with her. The supporting characters are also well-developed, and I felt like I was reading about a real group of friends.

This is one of the best books I've read all year. Warm, thoughtful and honest. I cannot recommend it enough!

🍃 Olive By Emma Gannon🍃
I was very lucky to be approved to read this book in return for a review on NetGalley. This is the first book I’ve ever read through net galley and I was a little worried I would have to review a book I wasn’t sure of.
But Alas this book was AMAZING! It’s underlying theme of pregnancy and the choice whether or not to have children really resonated with me. The fact we are all on different journeys and time frames in life, and how we should always be sensitive to one another.
I loved the writing style @emmagannonuk uses and I need to look into some more of her novels! I really recommend that you grab this book when it’s released.

Olive doesn’t want children and this becomes a problem for her as her friends all either have or are trying to have babies.
Olive explores all the pro’s and con’s, questioning the motives of those who do and choose not to have them.
There was no real story or a thorough discussion of the issues.

After a couple of hefty reads that explored worlds quite different to mine, I was excited for Emma Gannon’s novel, following the story of Olive, a magazine writer and editor who is grappling with the decision of whether or not to have a baby.

I always enjoy sinking into books written by women who understand women. Olive and her closest three female friends have traversed life together since their teens and have that lovely, messy relationship that women can have that’s somehow both complicated and simple at the same time. Despite (or perhaps because of) always having attended all girls schools until university, I struggled when I was younger to create those bonds with women, often opting for what I felt was an easier, less emotionally convoluted friendship with boys. (Yeah, sorry, I was one of those girls.) Somewhere along the way towards growing up though, perhaps as the intricacies of life differed depending on gender, I realised that the majority of my closest relationships these days are with women and that I now crave that female presence in my life in a way I never used to. So really these books that were once aspirational are now cosily familiar and reassuring to read.

Olive is an excellent and pretty relatable protagonist as she’s a wonderful mix of impressive and irritating qualities! She seems to know her own mind pretty well, she’s loyal, ambitious and successful. She’s also an over-thinker, anxious, a little bit stubborn and not aways a great communicator. Splitting between past memories and the present, the novel follows Olive as she interrogates her feelings about having children in the wake of a break-up and all her friends becoming baby oriented. I’m in that exact point in my life now where there’s a small chasm opening up between those with children, those planning to have children and those anticipating staying baby free so it was easy to enter the world of the book.

Gannon doesn’t simply fixate on Olive’s confused state of mind about her own decision to have children but also follows the experiences of her friends who are having different experiences, some already have a handful of kids while one is undergoing round after round of IVF. For me, the most interesting aspect of the book is this interplay between the wants, needs and pain of the four women. Trying to navigate a friend’s inability to get pregnant while still joyfully celebrating the birth of your own child must be a horrible situation to be in and one that many women I know experience. I constantly see well-meaning people sniping at each other for complaining about not having children, having children that are annoying them, accidentally getting pregnant, not being able to get pregnant etc. It’s human nature to be angry at people for not appreciating what you wish you had.

I struggled to connect with the broader discussions of the decisions to not have children. I know that these exist, that people constantly tell women that they’ll change their mind or disagree with their decision to stay childfree, and some of the examples in the books were eye-opening. The book is peppered with quotes from people - both famous and not about their experiences about the decision to be childfree - which worked really well to underline this. These things are irritating and of course should be challenged but I felt that the career-centric, creative world that Olive inhabited (outside of her friendship group) would actually counter this with the positive aspects of being childfree. However I really connected with Olive’s relationship with Jacob as an emotional catalyst for the entire situation. The decision to have children is a very personal one, but to have somehow ended up in a relationship where you’re on opposite ends of the spectrum is heartbreaking. To have her decision making process impacted by such a large potential loss raised the stakes hugely.

Despite loving both Olive and the friendships that underpin the book I became exasperated with some of the behaviour exhibited that didn’t quite ring true for me. While it’s true that life can tear previously inseparable people apart and that everyone can retreat into their own worlds a little bit, I did feel that Olive behaved quite strangely towards her friends and their children. I think her struggle to accept the changes that her friends had made in their lives is understandable but I became infuriated by how childishly she sometimes responded to this, getting drunk at baby showers and withholding important information about her life from her friends. In turn I also felt that, within my own friendship groups, I’ve witnessed a much warmer dynamic. I’ve seen friends with no interest in having children make adaptations to their own lives so friends who do have kids can join in and relationships broaden as new personalities bloom. Of course there’s the aspects where social lives do have to diverge a bit and where situations have been more complicated, but my overwhelming feeling was that Olive made very few concessions towards her friends with kids - making catty comments and rarely showing much interest in these people who were so important to her friends.

These are minor gripes though and the more I read the book, the more I felt like nuanced explorations of the concept of having children came forth. I loved the addition of Olive’s neighbour Dorothy, her sister Zeta and the friend who drunkenly confessed she regretted having a child. I would have loved to learn a bit more about Isla as her backstory and complexities made her fascinating to me. I think this book will really speak to modern women wrestling with a decision that’s still a relatively novel one for the majority of us to be able to make.

Loved this story. Beautiful use of language and I thought the characters were really believable. Will definitely be recommending this one when it comes out in July. Thank you for sharing this review copy!

Often the sign of a good book is how you feel about the characters and the author when reading it and this was perfect! I was reading with anxiety from worrying that the author would turn cliché and change the very idea of Olive. Olive doesn’t want children, she is ‘childfree by choice’ and she has never wanted them and my biggest dread was that when reading similar books, authors often end on the fact that it was a phase and they have a child and live happily ever after… not so in this book and so refreshing to see (sorry for the spoiler there too!). Emma Ganon has done a great job of sticking to the theme and carrying it through showing the differing thoughts and feeling and how lost Olive feels in this world that seems to different to everyone else’s.

Olive is, predictably, our main character and she is struggling with her place in the world, is she wrong to not want children? We follow along with Olive’s friends, one beginning their family, one who has been bringing up her boisterous family for a while and one who is struggling desperately to conceive. We see their differing life struggles from their discussions and Olive’s perspective.

The flashbacks make the most of showing how these friends have come together and the strength of their relationships, definitely, something most would love. They have been together for a long time and support each other through ups and downs, not always in the best way, but they are always ultimately supportive and there for one another. This shows the great strength of female friendships as well as exploring Olive’s child-free life and thoughts.

I found this to be a quick read that I really enjoyed. I’d love to hear more from Olive and her friends in future too!

I really enjoyed this book! It's sweet, tender, and made up of the kinds of characters you can imagine encountering in everyday life. I imagine a lot of women will feel so seen and safe reading Olive's story.

I enjoyed this book even though I could guess what would happen in the end.
The main character Olive is struggling with her decision not to have children and this affects her friendships relationships and even work. I guess this is a modern dilemma and one that might resonate with younger readers.
I think that the book could have been more realistic in some ways there are a lot of cliches throughout but overall I enjoyed it.
I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Fast read, relatable as someone who is childfree. Really enjoyed the different characters lives around having children, showing you how each life is a with other without.

I’d recommend this read to all! Easy to pick up and down. Short chapters and characters everyone women can connect with.

***Spoiler alert****

I think it's incredibly refreshing to read a book that tackles a young woman's desire not to have children and her experience of this, as it's not one I've seen much literature about. It was an easy read and the author has a nice style of writing that lends itself to a beach reach. I enjoyed that the chapters alternated between past and present tense as this allowed for a lot of context in Olive's life although I didn't really understand why the past tense chapters were jumbled, darting from 2018, back to 2016. I thought the group dynamics of Olive's friends were really interesting and relatable at times although it seemed unnecessary to me that all of Olive's friends seemed to be going through something dramatic, like the author was trying really hard to make a point. While I appreciate the sentiment that we all have our 'stuff' going on, it felt a bit unrealistic and forced. The ending of the book felt really rushed to me, we jumped from Olive going on a single date to her suddenly being in a relationship and becoming a stepmother figure pretty quickly. I think it would have been really interesting for the author to have spent more time on the development of the new relationship, especially given Olive had been with Jacob for so long, as had been pointed out several times during the book. A quick, straight forward read but nothing ground-breaking unfortunately and it was all tied up a bit neatly at the end for my liking.

Thanks NetGalley for my ARC of this book.

I had no doubt I’d like Emma Gannon’s debut novel but I loved every minute of ‘Olive’. It’s the perfect of example of a book where I didn’t personally relate to the main characters struggles but could still empathise. I found Olive’s struggle of no wanting to have children when it’s all her best friends can talk about such a compelling read. It kept me wanting to pick up constantly so I read it in just over a week and would happily recommend it to everyone. I think it really challenges the way women can feel about having children and how the people around them react. Maybe the ending was a little cliched but I love a happy ending so it was perfect for me.

A lot of things are billed as being the last taboo, but a woman’s choice about whether to have children or not is definitely one of them. Women who don’t want children are branded as selfish, confused, not aware of what joy the little ones can bring.
Olive, the protagonist of Emma Gannon’s new novel by the same name is independent, loyal, and knows her own mind. She’s trying to figure life out, and doing it with the support of her three friends from university. But then their paths start to diverge, as they choose marriage and motherhood, and Olive wonders whether her choices are the right ones. Life according to Olive looks different.
Olive is a pacy novel that explores our own explorations – how we approach life, and what it means to live a good one. The journalist and author has long been praised for acute commentary on society and life, and weaves in her observations subtley. Olive is a journalist, which means she can ask questions as a character, allowing us to see more than just her own life.
At times I worried that the cliché of Olive being a bit of a party girl undermined her decision not to have children. A woman can be child free without being irrational or hysterical, without loving wine more than they love family, or being an obsessive career woman.
Whatever path you choose to take, it’s always worth being mindful of the fact that there are other options out there. Even if your life is a good life, it doesn’t mean that someone else’s is bad. You do you. Olive does Olive.

I have to say that I read this book very quickly; it is well-written with a good sense for the zeitgeist, and a very believable dialogue. I am too old (in my 50's) to really relate to this book, which may be why it left me a bit cold. I'm sure younger people will identify with the characters and their concerns, but as a child-free person, with friends who have children as well as those who don't, I found it all a bit of a fuss about nothing. It certainly doesn't chime with my experience of deciding not to have a family.

I'm probably too old to read Olive.

Perhaps a bit too cynical too.

I'm 'child-free by choice' (CFBC as the books terms it) and I've never found it to be the cause of any drama whatsoever.

I've always believed that women my age (55) are part of the first generation to have the choice to not have kids and not get battered by society for that choice. Two decades earlier, women would be repeatedly asked when they would have babies and if they didn't, what was wrong with them. I skipped all of that. I just wonder what's gone wrong with female choice and emancipation if 32-year-old Olive and her ilk are still having the arguments of my mother's generation. True, when your friends start having kids, they do become part of another planet of playdates and long dull discussions about breastfeeding, and they are much more likely to phone you 20 minutes after you were supposed to meet them to tell you that junior's got a temperature or a pea stuck up his nose and they won't be coming. But hang on a couple of decades and you'll get them back again.

I don't normally read 'chick lit' - I don't even have a Goodreads shelf for it. On the rare occasions that I dabble, they get shelved on 'domestic drama'. But I was willing to take a detour to that genre to see what Emma Gannon had to say about choosing to not have kids. I liked a lot of the directions she took - the CFBC group, the examination of some of the many and varied reasons people do make that choice - but I didn't really get a clear sense of why Olive was supposed to feel that way. That's fine with me. I can't really tell you why I didn't want them either.

Thankfully the book isn't just about not wanting kids. It's also about getting them and wondering why you did it; getting them and losing your husband in the process; getting them and realising that maybe your husband wasn't quite so committed, and failing to get them and getting absolutely obsessed about that absence in your life.

I'm pretty sure that there are a lot more novels about wanting and not being able to get kids than there are about not wanting them. Olive adds to the choices of what you can read on the topic. It's worthy of praise for discussing the topic.

I found the expression of the various friends' prejudices very interesting. The sub-fertile friend who thinks her suffering must be somehow more noble and worth talking about than her newly single friend's loneliness and sense of loss. The general ganging up of the mums against the non-mum, the sense that Olive's life was somehow less valid and interesting in their eyes, her inability to talk about her broken relationship because her friends were so self-interested. All good valid discussions.

Please don't hate me for a 3-star. That's easily the highest I've given something in this genre in a long time. Olive is worth a read and could be a good choice for a book club - just don't be surprised if the discussion comes to blows and you end up with prosecco all over the carpet.

I got a free ARC ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you.

"I've decided to go and see a Reiki healer this afternoon because I am a Millennial cliche with a free afternoon." And so she is is Olive Stone. 30 years old. Single (long time partner Jacob has moved out). Works for .dot a trendy on line celebrity/product/millennial issue on line magazine and is the only one amongst her long time friends (Cec, Isla and Bea) who doesn't want children.
This novel will appeal to many (female 30 year old millennials particularly) of which I am not. But on the issue of having/ or not having children I do have some experience having worked for an infertility charity for some years. Therefore the stereotypes portrayed in this book were I have to say typical. Bea began early and his a large brood of children. Cec produces her first offspring into a million pound home during the novel whilst Isla is struggling to conceive and is having IVF.
The reason Olive broke up with Jason is because she has not wanted children and after some years together he then did. Issues are fed into Olive's thoughts from her work, instagram and all the modern methods of communication that now seem only to circulate around younger generations. However this plot and Olive's emotions never seem to mature beyond a certain level.
It breezes along with all the classic Bridget Jones scenes (she smokes/vapes/drinks too much/ eats pizza cold for breakfast etc etc) and is only wanting to be at work in the office (is an office necessary in this new .dot world?) because her weekends and social life - is like the image she presents to many - barren.
No doubt this will be a best seller and may even be dubbed the 'new Bridget Jones.' I am sure the author, a journalist has tapped into some very popular themes that will attract a lot of readers. Balancing a career then having a child is a classic debate for many women. But I was left empty at the way it dealt with only the implicit trappings of these lives (all white, all well off, all seeing in their own ways a child as a life accessory) and felt a longing for a novel that would really try and get to grips with the real issues behind this. But it has its place and will rise up those best seller lists. Oh and all the product placements by the author (particularly Converse shoes) should ensure a load of freebies landing on her doorstep.

I raced through this book - the writing, despite the heaviness of the themes tackled, is light and readable. Whilst the style is a bit too commercial for me, I appreciated Gannon's nuanced exploration of motherhood in its myriad forms. This book will have widespread appeal and will undoubtedly be picked up by some of the big name podcasters such as The High Low. This can only be a good thing, as our society needs to be more open to alternative forms of motherhood or at least open to discussing what it means to be a mother.

Thanks HarperCollins!

This is a cute little story about a group of girls told at different periods in their life with a focus on their adult lives featuring motherhood and the lack of it. The characters are engaging, and the differences between them and their outlook will ring home to any diverse selection of reader.

Olive is a successful 30 something, with a job and a group of close friends.
Her long term relationship has ended because she doesn't want children.
Olive finds it hard expressing her feelings to her closest friends, as they are all battling their troubles and turmoils.
Her friend Bea is married and has three kids, Cecily is a lawyer who's preparing to have her first child, and Isla has Endometriosis, currently undergoing IVF to fulfil her dream of becoming a mum.

With many people having extreme views about motherhood, Emma Gannon does an extraordinary job tackling it, researching every aspect of the positive and negatives.
As a woman who did not want children, I was delighted that this subject has been broached so sensitively.

I want to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and author Emma Gannon for a pre-publication to review.

I had been SO excited to review this one and it lived up to my expectations. As a young, married woman who isn’t sure if she wants children, I connected to Olive and her different friends. It was a lovely book but one that has a really important message to about how life’s achievements are more than just procreation.