Didn't expect to enjoy this book so much. It started off very heavy, and it sometimes felt like I wouldn't click with the characters. But then a pattern emerged - modern times, Catherine, modern times where it could be any 3 of Caroline, Janet, or Natalie's POVs, and so on, and I kinda fell into it. I knew the horrors Catherine was going to face, having come across tales of the mother-and-daughter homes of Ireland in the twentieth century, but nothing could've prepared me for the brutality she endured (and also what all the girls who went through there went through... It's inconceivable and at the same time so conceivable when self-appointed-righteous people come over to force their truths onto others...) It was captivating, and I was turning the pages without realizing I was doing so.
Definitely a book you need a strong stomach for, and trust me, your heart is going to bleed. But there's also hope, and lightness, and abiding love throughout.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

This is the first novel I've read by Anna McPartlin and so didn't know what to expect but after finishing it I can't believe I didn't read it and her back catalogue sooner.
This is a dual timeline novel set in 2010 and 1976. The 2010 narrative follows a group of women who meet at an infertility clinic and in 1976 16 year old Catherine is sent to a convent for pregnant girls.
This was such an emotional read and I don't think I've ever cried this much reading a novel. It's so beautiful, moving and insightful and I know it will stay with me for a very long time. The dual timeline narrative worked so well and I was completely drawn into both timelines but especially that of Catherine. The characterisation is excellent and I felt that I knew all the characters. This was a particularly emotional read for me as I am adopted and have also experienced fertility issues and so much of it resonated with me.
A gorgeous and heartbreaking novel that I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

An emotionally satisfying page-turner that will make readers laugh and cry in equal measure, Anna McPartlin’s Waiting for the Miracle is a stellar read that touches the heart and lifts the spirit.

The bottom has fallen out of Caroline’s world. After years of trying, the time has come to face facts: she cannot have children. The constant pain and heartache has destroyed her marriage and as if that wasn’t enough, her beloved dog is also dead. Caroline does not know how much more she can stand, but she isn’t the only one with problems. The other women at her support group have got their own demons to contend with. Natalie is worried that her girlfriend does not share her same enthusiasm for parenthood, Janet thinks her husband is having an affair and Ronnie has a dark secret which she refuses to divulge to anyone…

In 1976, sixteen year old Catherine has just found out that she’s pregnant. Her boyfriend has broken up with her as he wants nothing whatsoever to do with her or the baby and her parents can barely look at her as they are so ashamed of their pregnant teenage daughter. When her parents send her away to a convent for pregnant girls, Catherine is absolutely terrified yet she vows that she will do whatever it takes to make sure that she isn’t separated from her baby. Will happiness be within reach for Catherine and her child? Or should she just resign herself to the fact that she will never be able to see her baby grow up?

Waiting for the Miracle needs to be on everyone’s auto-buy list this summer. Anna McPartlin is such a fantastic writer with a superb gift for characterisation. Her protagonists come to life from the second they appear on the page and they feel so real they almost become like close friends by the end of the book. Readers will relate to the characters, howl with laughter and sob uncontrollably as they will find themselves so moved by this poignant, uplifting and fantastic tale about motherhood, women’s strength, courage and fortitude and the power of love in all its forms.

Anna McPartlin’s Waiting for the Miracle is a first class novel readers will want to tell all of their friends and family about!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Emotional psychological thriller that had you hooked from the off. The book was very well written. Great plot. Very exciting. Fast paced to get your heart racing. Loved this book

I absolutely love this authors books and this book was no exception. I picked this up to read on Saturday afternoon and then stayed up until
The early hours to finish it as I couldn’t put it down. This author writes the most beautiful books with such compassion and sensitivity about real people
And real issues that really get you at the core.

I laughed and I cried while reading this book it was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time and also showed how so much how it is important to have friends around you at difficult times and How does the saying go there’s safety in numbers this story shows the at so much more can be achieved in numbers with the women uniting together to form an unbreakable and unified bond.

This has been my best read of 2022
So far and is a book that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Another absolutely gorgeous book from Anna McPartlin.

This book captures the longing of motherhood, the joy of family and the heartbreak of loss so beautifully that you will be feeling each characters emotion right there with them.

An enjoyable book overall. I liked the use of multiple narrators and how the stories tied together. The themes could be triggering for some such as fertility issues but it is dealt with in a sensitive and thoughtful way. Great characters and the overall tone of women being supportive of each other was brilliant!

I’ve read most of Anna’s books and I always need to get myself emotionally psyched up before starting one of her books, because they always, always, make me cry.

Anna’s past books have been highly emotive and heartbreaking stories and Waiting For The Miracle is no exception.

This is the story of a group of women wanting to become mothers, actually it’s more than wanting, it’s needing to have a child and their journeys through IVF, miscarriages, infertility, relationships, marriage and hope.

Told over two timelines, both set in Ireland, Caroline, Janet, Natalie and Ronnie meet at an infertility support group in 2010. The reader follows these wonderful women through heartache and heartbreak as they try to fulfill their dreams of becoming parents.

The other timeline is the story of Catherine, a teenager in 1976, the daughter of a pig farmer in a rural village who falls pregnant bringing shame onto her family. Shunned by her boyfriend, she is sent to a Mother and Baby Home run by sadistic nuns. The abuse Catherine endures at the hands of the “sisters” is abhorrent, however we now know that these homes are based on FACT and the author has written about this barbaric time in Ireland without sugar coating anything.

As with all Anna’s books, there is a wonderful dry humour and clever wit, despite the heartbreak and emotions, and when the two timelines begin to merge together I defy any reader not to shed a tear or two.

Oh my word this book was just utterly fantastic. I honestly can’t give it the review it deserves but all I can say is that this is an absolute must read.

This book. It has been a while since I read something so incredibly moving. I was so connected to the story woven by Anna McPartlin. She was able to reach into my heart and plant her book right there - to touch every emotion, provoke every thought and carry me through the lives of Caroline and Catherine and the people they meet along the way.

Characters are what make a story and these were so special. Every single character is written with such care. You can tell that time and effort has been made to perfectly craft each and every one. It's the instant connection to the characters that makes this book so emotional and so devastating. While the women are all united in their infertility struggles, the real joy of the story is watching the friendships that blossom from heartbreak.

What really got me was the tragic story of Catherine and her time in one of those awful "mother and baby homes'. We follow her as she desperately tries to keep her baby and ultimately, we know she'll never win. Those homes were so cruel and how the girls that stayed there were treated is ultimately unforgivable. The actions of all those involved... it provokes such rage in me. Following Catherine's journey through such pain and fear through to the woman she becomes is very emotional. You spend the whole time with your heart full of hope that things will get better and fear that it wont.

Despite the content and subject matter, this book is not heavy. While shining a light on some of the most tragic things people have endured and still do, Anna McPartlin has created a safe, solid foundation in the women's friendship and the overall message isn't of doom and gloom, but hope. Hope and happiness.

It was a privilege to read this book. Thank you NetGalley.

I read 'Below the Big Blue Sky' by Anna McPartlin last summer so I was delighted to be given the opportunity to read this book, Waiting for the Miracle, written by the same author, after checking out its fabulous premise.

This fabulous, bittersweet literary tale has some truly wonderful characters. I love Anna McPartlin's writing style, and I appreciated the complexity of the story and the many surprises along the way. Set over two time periods 1976 and 2010 in Ireland, I liked both Caroline and Catherine very much. In 1976, sixteen-year-old Catherine was sent to a mother and baby home in Cork after becoming pregnant. Fast forward to 2010 and Caroline is married to Dave but she can't have children and attends an infertility support group along with Ronnie, Natalie, and Janet. They were stupendously portrayed, and all were distinct and well-developed. I was enraptured by the compelling, poignant and heartfelt storyline with its dashes of humour and comedy. There were several plot threads to retain my interest with themes of friendship, resilience and inner strength, as well as resistance, lies and heartbreak.

With an eloquent and affecting finale, Waiting for the Miracle was a blissful read and I felt lost as I headed towards the end of my time with these characters. I have yet to read 'The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes' but I intend to very soon.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bonnier Books/ Zaffre via NetGalley, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

I know it might be hard to believe but I hadn't read an Anna McPartlin book before picking up her new book Waiting for the Miracle, but what a wonderful book it is to introduce me to this fabulous author. Although I love reading paperbacks, for once I was glad to be reading on kindle as my pages would have been well soggy with all the tears I shed.

Caroline's story starts with a bang when she loses everything in one day. I was absolutely furious with her husband and his terrible timing but I was more upset about the dog. The author's ability to produce such emotions in the reader at such an early point in the book is astonishing. I knew I was in for a ride on the emotional rollercoaster from the very start and what a ride it is.

The addition of Catherine's story in a dual timeline that takes the reader back to 1976 Ireland is completely heartrending, it's a disturbing time where young pregnant girls were sent away to give birth in convents. It's a true story we hear often with babies being separated from mothers and searching for them many years later, only to be hit with a brick wall as the church closes ranks. Catherine's treatment in the convent is disturbing and shocking, especially when she gives birth. I don't know how nuns such as these managed to live with themselves, all the while believing they are doing a forgiving God's work.

Caroline is part of an infertility group and I loved all of the women in the group. Newcomer Ronnie seems to be holding back so my desire to uncover her story was immense. I was also incredibly intrigued to find out how Catherine's story was going to fit into the storyline and I had an idea but of course I was wrong. Reading books is one time when I love being wrong; it means that the author has successfully misdirected me and given me a wonderful surprise.

Heart-shatteringly breathtaking, I read Waiting for the Miracle with a lump in my throat and I was left in bits at the end. I lived and breathed these women's lives with them, fully experiencing every moment of joy and sadness that rendered me powerless to stop the tears from falling.

A stunning and very highly recommended novel but make sure you have a packet of tissues handy while you're reading.

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

As a huge fan of this author’s previous books and her unique ability to have me crying with sadness one minute and crying with laughter the next, I knew I was in for a real treat.

(TW: infertility, pregnancy and baby loss).

The main narrative centres around four women that attend the same infertility support group who, bonded by heartbreak, become friends. Their stories and characters are very different but their goals are the same: they want a child. Only Ronnie keeps her cards very close to her chest, and we’re left wondering what were the circumstances that brought her to the group.

In 1979 16 year old Catherine is pregnant and her boyfriend, the son of a highly respected local judge, doesn’t want to know. Her parents send her to a convent for pregnant girls, where she is treated abominably. Desperate to keep her baby, she tries everything she can think of to make that happen, but the stories she has been told by the other girls make her very fearful for the future…

Anna McPartlin writes with amazing warmth and sensitivity about whichever subject she turns her hand to, drawing readers into her worlds and making them genuinely care for each character. As you might imagine, there are plenty of sad moments throughout this book, but ultimately I was left feeling uplifted and happy that the women each found some kind of resolution, even if it was perhaps not the one they originally wanted or expected.

I found Catherine’s story to be absolutely horrifying, and have spent a large part of my time since finishing this book reading up on the real-life history of “mother and baby homes” in Ireland. That such places can possibly have existed and in such recent history is beyond upsetting. I loved how the author drew the two seemingly disparate timelines together in a way that I was absolutely not expecting but was totally perfect.

Waiting for the Miracle cements Anna McPartlin as an auto-buy author for me – give me everything she’s ever written please! With thanks to Zaffre for gifting me a digital copy

Oh how I love Anna McPartlin’s writing! Her characters fizz with larger than life personalities, feeling so real to me that I always feel bereft and reluctant to say goodbye as I turn the final page. Waiting for the Miracle was everything I wanted it to be and more! Filled to the brim with Anna’s trademark wit and Irish charm, it is both laugh out loud funny and heartwrenchingly moving, switching back and forth between Caroline and the other members of her infertility group in 2010 and Catherine’s story in 1976. Each timeline is rich with detail, dealing with love, loss, family heartache and motherhood in all its many guises.

It’s 1976 and Catherine is sixteen and pregnant. Sent away by her parents, she is desperate not to be parted from her baby. I was completely sucked in by Catherine’s story and wish I could say I was shocked by how she was treated, but sadly I wasn’t as everything that happened to her felt all too real. I wanted more than anything for things to work out for Catherine and her baby, but with the odds stacked against her I knew she had a long, hard road ahead of her. My heart ached for this young woman and the appalling things that happened to her, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away, desperate to find out how and where her story would end.

And then we have Caroline in 2010 who would like nothing more than to have a baby. After years of trying, the pain has driven her and her husband apart… and then her beloved dog died. Attending an infertility group, Caroline finds comfort in the stories of the other women who help her feel less alone. Each woman has a different story to share, all filled with heartache and longing, but with that wonderful undercurrent of humour running through them that this author does so extremely well. Before you know it these women feel so real to you that they begin to feel like old friends, making you laugh and cry along with them as they try to navigate their way through the often heartbreaking hand life has dealt them.

As always Anna McPartlin has written a warm, heartachingly moving story with characters who get under your skin, sweeping you along on a tidal wave of emotion as the tale moves towards a conclusion that will see the past and present collide. I loved every moment of this book and felt bereft as I turned the final page, not wanting to say goodbye to these characters who had come to mean so much.

Beautifully written, Waiting for the Miracle is full of the humour and Irish charm I have come to expect from Anna McPartlin and is a wonderful and heartwarming read that I would highly recommend.

One of my favourite books that I've read this year. The theme of infertility resonated deep within me, and I thoroughly appreciated how authentically it was portrayed.

Four main characters meet at an infertility group, each on their own upsetting and unique quest. I really enjoyed spending time with all four of them, and finding out why they attended the group and what obstacles were in their way on their journey to parenthood.

Anna McPartlin has a fabulous gift of creating characters that I care deeply about, and I felt so many emotions while reading this book. Some of them were unhappy personal memories, but reading about characters who experienced the same is always a little healing for me. And I know when I experience that shared emotion with the characters that the author has nailed it. Absolutely captured that emotional intensity and hammered it in hard.

Just brilliant. And highly recommended if you love richly developed characters and poignant plotlines.

I have read lots of Anna's books - after Rabbit Hayes I was stunned but this book is exceptional. A story of 5 women's journey and battles to become mothers- lots of tears, excitement and heartbreak right to the end . Lovely characters- who developed a deep friendship amid heartbreak. but the last page nearly finished me off. An Excellent read

For me, Anna McPartlin is an APA – an Automatic Purchase Author! Anyone who knows me well will tell you that The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes (2014) is one of my all-time favourite books. Ever since reading that, I’ve been completely hooked on Anna’s books! So, as soon as I heard about a new book, I immediately jumped up and down, waving my arms in the air (virtually speaking, of course)!

Once again, Anna has taken a sensitive, often taboo topic, and turned it into an unputdownable story. She can make you cry the ugly cry and laugh out loud, all within the same paragraph! Her particular brand of empathy together with her unique, rollicking wit and humour, are unparalleled.

The overriding theme in Waiting for the Miracle is infertility, but in addition to this, secondary themes also include the treatment meted out to unmarried mothers in Ireland in the not too distant past, friendship, resilience, family values and the fact that sometimes we do get to choose and create our own families.

The story is told in two timelines and I really had no problem keeping up with both. You know that eventually, the two parallel narratives will intertwine but until then, each one is equally riveting.

2010 – Caroline, Natalie, Janet and Ronnie are all members of the same infertility support group.

Caroline and her husband Dave have been trying for a baby for years. But after numerous failed IVF’s and various other surgeries, they’ve agreed that enough is enough. Having their own baby just isn’t on the cards, and that book is closed for them. But Caroline is thinking about opening a new book … even if she needs to do it without Dave.

Natalie and her partner Linda want a baby, but they really want it to have their DNA. Linda’s twin brother Paul is willing to be the sperm donor, but Natalie has her doubts – he’s not exactly the candidate she’d choose if she was paging through a catalogue of options!

Janet and hubby Jim have suffered through countless miscarriages and a molar pregnancy. So the problem isn’t actually being able to fall pregnant, it’s keeping a healthy pregnancy, and carrying a baby to term that seems to be the issue. Are they so drained from their previous trauma that they can’t even hope to try again?

And then there’s newcomer Ronnie. Nobody can quite figure her out. But they know enough to realise that she doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the group. Will anyone be able to get her to share her story?

1976 – teenager Catherine is brought up on a rural Irish pig farm. She knows that there are bigger, better things out there in the world, but she has no idea how she will ever be able to escape the simplicity and tedium of farm life. However, she is sure in the knowledge that her parents and brothers love her. They are salt of the earth people – they work the land, regardless of the hardships it brings, and they attend church. This is their life and they don’t waver from it. Until Catherine falls in love with a boy who is from a well-respected, well-to-do family. In her naivete, she believes this is her key to freedom that will allow her to escape her future on the pig farm. But when she falls pregnant, she discovers how very wrong she is.

Catherine is shunned by her boyfriend and banished by those closest to her for shaming both herself and the family name. She is packed off to a mother and baby home and suffers the most horrific abuse at the hands of the Catholic nuns who run the institution. Determined that she’s going to keep her baby, Catherine fights tooth and nail against those who now hold her future, and that of her baby, in their hands.

The telling of Catherine’s story is chilling. When you think about it, 1976 is really not that long ago and the background and information that the author gives of these mother and baby homes (now also known as Magdalene laundries or Magdalene asylums) is based on cold, hard fact. To think that thousands of young women were sent away to suffer in the most inhumane ways by the very people who were meant to care for them: their families and the Church … and then to be forced to give up their babies almost immediately after birth, beggars belief! The wrongs done to them can never be taken back and although the Irish government has led numerous enquiries, and also extended compensation to those who have no come forward as having been “coercively confined”, these are scars that will never heal.

Unbelievably, the last Magdalene laundry only closed in 1998 (although some research puts this closure earlier, in 1996)!

Catherine is nothing if not determined, and I absolutely loved reading about her fighting spirit! I also loved reading about Dublin during this time. No matter how rigid and staid society is, as a whole, there will always be those who fall just outside of what’s accepted. When they find each other it’s a beautiful thing. McPartlin’s description of the judgment and discrimination of this era that was experienced by anyone considered to be “other” is harsh and jarring. I felt incredibly uneasy reading about it and knowing that much of this still exists today, and that many people who don’t fit into some ridiculously defined mould of “normality” still experience this treatment.

The two timelines do eventually merge, as you know they will, and whether you see it all fall into place before that, or as it happens, you’re sure to be enveloped by a sense of uplifting warmth and that feeling that you’ve just been witness to something extremely special and unique, which is what this book is.

I’d rate this at more than 5 stars if I could! I adored it. And a massive thank you to Anna McPartlin for writing this gorgeous book, and for being open about her own journey with infertility.

This wonderful story of friendship, resilience, betrayal and love is an emotional read that had me blubbing more than once. In the late 70s, teenager Catherine falls pregnant and is unlucky enough to find herself dragged off to one of the Catholic Church’s mother-and-child homes. More than thirty years later, in 2010, four women meet at an infertility support group and become close friends.
I enjoyed this book on a number of levels. On one, it is a very readable—and at times hysterically funny—story about strong female characters surviving all that life throws at them. On another, it deals with very real societal issues, including mental health, infertility and terminal disease. Above all, it illuminates the abhorrent state-sponsored abuse by Catholic nuns, priests and orders towards young, unmarried, pregnant girls.
I was in awe of young Catherine. Despite being abandoned by her parents and boyfriend, imprisoned in an institutional hell-hole at the hands of sadistic nuns, and facing the prospect of having her baby stolen, she nonetheless manages to stay strong. She does, however, remain damaged by her awful experience despite her immense strength and character—testament to just how horrific, cruel and criminal this abuse was.
I also became quite emotionally invested in the ups and downs of Caroline, Natalie and Janet as they desperately try to fall pregnant. The mysterious fourth friend, Ronnie, is another fabulous character—straight-talking and fearless, she doesn’t confide her reasons for joining the group. Although funny in parts, McPartlin treats infertility with sensitivity and empathy, ensuring her readers live through the ghastly roller coaster ride that many women who’re unable to conceive go through.
I loved the humour in the story, the way McPartlin draws all the strands together, the wonderful characters she creates (Tony, Catherine’s best friend, is unforgettable), and the surprises she throws in along the way. Waiting for the Miracle is immensely readable!

Yet again Anna McPartlin has written another absolute cracker of a book . This is such an emotional read and at times as I was reading I had tears in my eyes such was the emotion in the writing. However it wasn’t all sadness there were some laugh out loud moments as well.

The story is told over two timelines and often when this happens i sometimes prefer one timeline over the other but not in this case. Both the past timeline and the present were as engaging as each other. This is a book that will stay with me for a very long time.