This is told in 2 different timelines, but we don’t know how the one set in the past is connected to the future. Many difficult subjects were written about and I thought the author wrote them brilliantly. All the women came from different lives and backgrounds which made me love them all the more. Raw, real and amazingly put together. Waiting for the miracle will pull at every heartstring and keep you reading till you have finished.

It’s 2010 and Caroline is desperate to become a mother. She’ a part of an infertility support group, where she meets other women struggling, each of them with their own drama. Together with her husband, they have tried everything, but, after so many failed pregnancies and so many desperate attempts at IVF, they know that the journey has ended. Until it hasn’t? Will Caroline’s desperation to get pregnant destroy their marriage?
In 1976 we meet a 16 – year – old Catherine, daughter of a pig farmer, in love with a boy from a „good“ family, living in the deepest rural Ireland where Catholic Church is reigning. Then Catherine gets pregnant and the shamed family quickly ships her away to mother – and – baby home run by the nuns, out of sight, out of mind. But Caroline knows what happens in such „homes“ and is desperate to keep her baby. Will she be able?

The characters were so well written and developed. They had to face so many challenges during this story that jumps between past and present, with Catherine’s tale beginning in 1976 and Caroline’s in 2010 and the author aced this dual time storytelling, seamlessly weaving those two narrations. I loved Catherine and my heart went out to her all the time. She finds herself pregnant and, instead of finding support, she was met with a lot of resistance and lies, she is sent away and doesn’t have any choice at what’s going to happen to her or to her baby. Awful. But Catherine was determined and I adored her for this, for fighting for her baby, and that wasn’t easy back then. She’s lost everything but she never gave up, and she would not rest until she knew all the answers. Her story, simply, affects, because you know it really happened, and you know there are many Catherines, still living feeling guilty, still broken, still looking for their lost children, even though nothing was their fault.
Caroline has also experienced a lot in her life and I think her battles and her mental portrait were brilliantly captured by the author, she was able to really bring to life feelings of a woman who’s ready to have a baby, but it doesn’t happen. So desperate that she has isolated herself from her friends and family, as she couldn’t see the new baby bumps and freshly hatched babies. Her world was falling apart and while, to some, Caroline’s decisions may seem harsh and selfish, I think that most of us will be able to understand her and the place she was coming from. She attends the infertilitly group, looking for solace and understanding, and the members of the group were absolutely brilliant. It was filled with lovely and diverse women and each of them had their own heart – breaking story to tell. Ronnie, who’s a bit of an enigma, Janet and Natalie, they all struggle and have their own battles to fight and I’ve kept everything crossed for them. It was so poignant to see them all, fighting for the same thing and supporting each other on the way, knowing the chances are sometimes very low, and yet still being there for each other, hiding their own feeling of disappointment to cheer the happier ones – you could see how much it cost them and you wanted to hug them and promise them everything will be okay. All of them praying for a miracle, hoping where there is no hope.

The writing style is exquisite, especially the way Anna McPartlin was able to capture the feelings and emotions, the anguish, fear, desperation and hope. It felt so close to life, you know, so human. She writes about unhuman conditions, about indignity and cruelty, yet there is the overwhelming feeling of hope and sense of wit and humour running through her words.

I love Anna MacPartlin and her stories, she has this incredible talent to make me cry crocodile tears and in the next moment laugh out loud, and this all over and over again. Her books are real rollercoasters filled with emotions and feelings and it was the same with „Waiting for the Miracle“. I’ll be honest, it was not my favourite book by this author, there were some things that bothered me too much – the end felt much too rushed compared to the long introduction, the closer to the end, the ofter the points of view changed and more and more things happened, however it felt too rushed and I had a feeling some of the information were skipped or not mentioned anymore. There was one thing that confused me a lot and I even talked about it with a fellow blogger – I don’t want to say what it was, as I don’t want to put any spoilers here, but let’s just say it was about a very important decision and it was told you can register yourself, and that was all, no mention if this happened or not, though I am assuming it happened, taking the end into consideration. But – it was still a brilliant read, filled with heartbreak and laughter.

„Waiting for the Mracle“ is, as always with Anna McPartlin’s books, beautifully written, well researched and written with tons of heart, highly emotional and thought – provoking. So very subtle and gentle, raw and honest. It kept me wondering, how those two stories are connected, and as the book continues, I started to suspect the connection, but the best thing is that you never know how it’s going to work out and if you’re right. Anna McPartlin deals this time with different difficult issues, such as fertility problems, loss, unconditional love, but with gentleness and not forgetting her hallmark humour, perfectly balancing poignancy with wit, the darker moments with the lighter ones. And of course the bitter – sweet ending made me cry. Of course. Recommended!

My Thoughts: Anna has done it again, written a powerful hard hitting story that I devoured in one sitting and found really difficult to put down!

The story is told in 2 different timelines.. 2010 where we are following a group of Ladies from a TTC support group, all there for the same reason but all have totally different experiences & 1976 where we are following Catherine, she finds herself pregnant at 16 and in a whole heap of trouble.

I found each individual story heartbreaking on its own, but felt that they had all found each other at just the right time, little did they know that someone was going to join their group that would add fun, excitement and also maybe a little bit of danger to the group!

I think the chapters based in 1976 were my favourite, just because I couldn’t believe that what I was reading actually happened, I was really hoping for a happy ending!

I will say I did work out the slight twist towards the end before it was revealed but it just made the story a little more exciting for me.

I laughed, I cried, I got angry it’s always a good sign when an author can make you feel so many different emotions in one book! – I can’t wait to se what Anna comes out with next.

Waiting for the Miracle by Anna McPartlin

A witty but heart-rending emotional roller-coaster, beautifully written and with great characters.

Fantastic read 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

It's May 2010 and Caroline has hit rock bottom. To the outside world she is excelling in her legal career, has a beautiful house and a loving and supportive husband. But she is desperate for a child, her dog has just died and the stress and pain of their failed IVF attempts is destroying her marriage and driving a wedge between her family. She attends a local support group which is her lifeline. They all understand the heartache and share intimate details of their fertility struggles. When a secretive new member joins the group, they start to see their problems with fresh eyes and begin to find the strength together to face their shared ups and downs and discover what is most important to them.

Growing up as a pig farmer's daughter in 1970s Ireland, Catherine has led a sheltered life. She can't believe her luck when handsome and wealthy Justin is interested in her and assures her that they will be married when they are old enough. But when she falls pregnant she is exiled to a strict mother and baby institution run by exploitative nuns. Learning just how badly she has been let down, she is determined to escape and reclaim her life for herself.

Although many difficult subjects were covered, this was such an emotional, poignant and humorous read. We switch between the two timelines and also follow the stories of the women in the support group through their struggles with infertility, pregnancy loss, IVF, infidelity and more. Be aware there are very close to the bone discussions of infertility and institutional abuse but overall this is a poignant and uplifting story of strength and friendship.

Anna McPartlin is an author who I have long thought deserves much wider recognition than she receives. She has written some incredible books, The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes and Below the Big Blue Sky, just two which have long remained in my mind. Her new book Waiting for the Miracle again deals with heart-wrenching topics that leave you both angry and deeply sad. She is a brilliant storyteller and has a unique way of making you both laugh and cry on the one page. This time around she has chosen to write about infertility and a group of women and how they are each dealing with their longing and need to become a mother. Each journey is so difficult to navigate and it’s amazing the different backgrounds and situations each woman comes to the group with. The story is told through a dual timeline and it works seamlessly switching back and forth between the present day with the group and back to the past as we follow one young girl’s story through the most harrowing, distressing and unbelievable of times.

When we first meet Caroline, she is in a very lonely and sad place. She has hit rock bottom. The cracks in her marriage are widening by the day given the intense pressure that has been placed upon it trying for years to have a baby. Her husband, Dave, has reached that end point where enough is enough and he is walking out the door but Caroline is dogged in her determination to keep going, to try more IVF, to try any method out there that will see her dream fulfilled. She had never wanted children but once that urge and desire materialised it never left and it was all that fuelled her. So when it didn’t happen naturally, her world fell apart. She has become isolated from her friends and family and reached that point where any news of someone being pregnant just drives her insane and makes her bitter and unable to communicate any form of happiness for that person.

Caroline attends the infertility group in the hopes of sharing her story, of finding solace and comfort with those who are going through the same experiences. She feels needed and wanted there. That she can unburden her load and they will not judge her for feeling the way she does when time and time again bad news just widens the chasm with Dave. But one line sums up how I felt Caroline should try and deal with her situation because I felt she was on a road that wouldn’t give her the outcome she needed. ’Sometimes we don’t get what we want or what we need. Sometimes we have to find a way to find peace regardless’. I felt from the beginning Caroline needed to find an alternative peace which I know is incredibly hard to do but until she could reach this point she was torturing herself and in my mind causing untold harm to the life she could have lead and to those around her.

I loved how each of the women came from all walks of live and were dealing with significant obstacles/problems in their path to motherhood. You don’t ever really stop and think how difficult it is. As with Caroline, when you reach that point in life where you are ready to become a mother you just expect it to happen. Natalie has no fertility issues. Her issue is that her partner is a woman. She is almost in a battle with her partner Linda. It’s a silent one as I felt there was so much unsaid from Linda and the manner in which they set about their journey, I thought it was too close to home and perhaps more of an outsider was needed. Natalie is wracked with indecision and the closeness she once had with Linda is dissipating. Communication is needed but she fears once things are said they cannot be taken back and really a child is what she craves so she daren’t say anything which would upset the apple cart.

Janet, I felt was the most vulnerable of the group and almost child like. She had been through a horrific experience of loss through something I had never heard about before. Jim, her husband, is her rock and strong support system but she questions, has he had enough of dealing with her and how she reacted to her loss. Can she bear to try again for a child? Will history repeat itself? I thought the other women in the group were like mother hens to Janet in the most positive and natural of ways and out of all the women she was the one I wanted something positive to happen too. As for Ronnie, she is the real enigma of the group. For some strange reason, I thought she came across as very aloof and somewhat manly. That the group wasn’t the place for her. She kept her cards close to her chest and at times riled people up the wrong way. There were so many questions surrounding her and it’s only as I neared the end I realised the crucial part she had to play and my opinions of her changed and I thought she was the most perfect inclusion to the story.

Without doubt the strongest part of the story where the chapters set back in the past where we follow Catherine from her childhood, reared on a pig farm in rural Ireland, through the worst trauma to befall a young woman in Ireland at the time and as she grows into an adult dealing with the repercussions of an event that never truly leaves her. She was an outstanding character and I found myself desperate to get back to her story when reading of the group in the present. We see the innocence of a young girl believing she has found true love only to be shunted to one side and more or less sold off like a piece of meat. Tossed to one side, conveniently forgotten about because power and money could get you a lot in those days. Her mother was the weakest and most spineless of characters and I don’t care what anyone would think no way did Catherine deserve what befell her.

To be abandoned, betrayed and abused like that should never have happened to her. Nor to the thousands of young women who suffered at the hands of the Catholic church and the nuns running the Magdalene laundries. It’s a shameful part of Irish history and the devastation and repercussions are still being felt today with horrendous stories emerging. I could feel the anger that Anna McPartlin felt when writing these parts of the book and rightly so. I think she is expressing how so many Irish women feel today when the truth emerged as to what happened at that time. So many people have so much to answer for but they never will and it both saddens and angers me. Catherine was a fighter, a survivor whose love for what was taken from her never ever diminished. She wanted answers, clarity and to find what was gone and she would not rest until this was achieved. She picked herself up from the very bottom, a place where degradation and disdain was rife and she would seek what was rightfully hers. I admired her so much and wanted nothing but the evil to turn to good for her.

I’ll be honest and say and reluctantly so that this book wasn’t my favourite by this author, not that there was anything wrong with it. It’s written in the author’s usual brilliant writing style and the themes are hard hitting and thought provoking with well developed characters and once again this book would be ideal as a book club selection. So much research and thought had gone into every storyline and you just knew she was writing from some of her own personal experiences and had the sensitivity and tact with how to deal with everything being explored. But the fact is, it’s simply down to me as to why it’s not my favourite although I would highly recommend it. I really appreciated what a brilliant book it was and how strong of the author to tackle the subject matter but honestly not having any children myself and no strong desire to do so perhaps the characters as a collective apart from Catherine didn’t resonate with me as much as they should have. I could see their hurt, loss, despair, anger and the injustice they felt at the knockbacks, negativity and torture they were going through and if I had felt the same way maybe I would have been really deeply invested in them but giving my own personal circumstances and viewpoints the set of women and their both their individual and collective journeys as a group although making for an excellent read I just couldn’t fully relate to them all and at times I found parts of the story told in the present day to drag.

Waiting for the Miracle is a fantastic read and I thought the title was so apt given the overall themes and how each women is waiting for that miracle, so desperately clinging on to any shred of hope that they can latch on to. I’m sorry I felt this way in general about the book but again it’s nothing to do with the author because I thinks she is phenomenal just this one wasn’t the right one for me but I will always read whatever she publishes in the future.

This book is stunning It will tear at your heart strings & stay with you long after you read it.I can relate so much to the book and the very heavy subject matter, as always Anna deals with heartbreaking topics in a sensitive & beautiful way. I loved this book and it will stay with me for a long time to come.

Anna McPartlin has done it again! Another stunning read that ends with me in tears yet also smiling. Her characters are so fabulously constructed that I become involved in each and every one of their lives. In this novel, McPartlin manages to draw on issues that, maybe you haven't personally endured, but you will almost definitely know someone who has.

The book has two story lines running through it: that of Catherine, written in the first person, and a group of females with common ground written in the third person. The two story lines are about 20 years apart, but are delicately interwoven and all discuss difficult topics.

Catherine is a young naive teenager who falls for the first compliment from a handsome male who quickly abandons her when their passion results in an unplanned pregnancy. Catherine is carted (almost literally) off to an unmarried mum's home run by nuns. Her treatment at their hands and the subsequent birth of her daughter are heart-breakingly harsh. When her daughter Daisy is stolen away and given up for adoption against Catherine's will, she vows never to stop searching for her daughter.

The second story finds a group of females brought together by their inability to have children: a support group of sorts. Each character has a tale to tell, and these are gradually revealed as you get to know each member's backstory. Ultimately, all they want is to have their own baby. There are so many reasons for their inability to have children: failed IVF, early miscarriage, endometriosis, same-sex relationships...and the mysterious Ronnie's reasons are not revealed until much later on.

These shared experiences draw these women into a friendship. You root for each and every female on her quest for the holy grail of a positive pregnancy resulting in a live birth. This book explores the frustrations and devastation that may women feel when they find themselves unable to achieve this goal.

This book is wonderful. It addresses many difficult themes that many readers will find painful (miscarriage, terminal/hereditary illness, adoption, depression) but in McPartlin's inimitable style, you will laugh while you cry. Life is not kind and fair for everyone but this is a book about finding out who you are and what matters most to you. Catherine is told by her good friend, Tony, 'sometimes ... you just have to tell the truth and hope for the best.' This is a book about finding the best in every situation - even if it not the result you really wanted.

I could not put this book down - read it in less than a day! I had to know how it was going to end.

Raw, Real... Painfully Relatable - A Must Read

I have long been a fan of Anna McPartlin's writing. Her novel, The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes sucked me in from the first page, and I only recently read Below the Big Blue Sky (which, I devoured in a single day!). So, when I was asked to read and review Waiting for the Miracle for this blog tour, I was more than happy to oblige. It's a tough job really when you have to find time to read a book in the sun and call it 'work'.

Reading this beautiful novel was not hard work at all. In fact, it was a privilege.

This expertly crafted story weaves two narratives so seamlessly that you are left believing this story was only ever meant to be told this way. As if this story was born on the page, and it simply being relayed to us by a skilled storyteller over pot of tea with a blanket tucked over your lap. Most novelists aim for this to be the case, but in my opinion, there are only a few authors who truly execute the effortlessness that McPartlin achieves with her storytelling. The setting, historical references, and emotion help her achieve this.

At its heart, this is a story that taps into something deeply rooted in so many mothers across the globe. It explores the expectations we all have of motherhood. The internal and external struggles we all compete with. That idea that we still think we should fight to 'have it all'.

We live in a society now that makes us believe we can. That we can choose a career, put our family ideas on pause, and decide when it's the right time to have a child. When, in reality, so few of us get the chance to choose when life throws us curve balls. Having a child is not a given, and although infertility (in all its different guises) is a really tough subject to tackle, Anna McPartlin does it with care.

Part of me doesn't want to go into too much detail in this review - I don't want to skew anyone's opinion, I want you to pick up this book and read it from cover to cover.. not because I told you to, but because I think everyone should. Because it tackles history, pain, and expectation. Because stories like this deserve to be written into the history books so we never forget.

Catherine's story takes place in 1970's Ireland, in a time when if you found yourself 'with child' as a young girl, there was an easy fix for that. You would simply be placed with the Nuns of the Catholic Church, but don't expect to have a choice over what happens to you in there. Catherine finds herself pregnant, and rather than being protected by those she loves, her parents and even the baby's father turn their back on her. The nuns plan to take her child away from her, but Catherine is determined not to let that happen. The problem is, despite our own beliefs these days that it's a mother's choice, back then (and it really wasn't that long ago) they had no choice at all.

So many children were 'lost' into a system that even their own mothers fought against. Catherine fought. She was determined not to have her baby sold or adopted. She wanted her child. But life wasn't that easy back then.

Despite praying, to all the saints she can think of, for one small miracle to help her keep her baby, life in Catholic Ireland in the '70s was never going to make that easy.

Catherine's story really affected me. I was raised Catholic myself, and the sins of the Catholic Church are never far from my mind, but to read such raw emotions surrounding the pain and abuse done 'in the name of religion' makes me so incredibly sad. I won't deny that I shed a few tears.

This story gets under your skin, mostly because we know these stories are real. It's no secret that so many girls/young women found themselves in similar situations. We hear stories all the time from those who spent a lifetime searching for their 'lost children'.

Yes - this is a dual timelines novel, but the 'past' doesn't feel that long ago. The 70's really wasn't that long ago and the pain on the pages of this timeline still stings, it still feels real and raw.

In 2010, we meet Caroline, Ronnie, Janet, and Nancy. Each struggling with their own battles. IVF, sperm donor issues and Molar pregnancies see these women struggle to get the one thing they really want. Then there's Ronnie, the American who could raise a smile one moment and raise heckles the next. Different women, with different stories and personalities thrown together in a support group that facilitates an important friendship and support system for each of them.

When you are dealing with a dual timeline, and then multiple characters and relationships all in one book, you run the risk of not truly connecting with all the characters on the page, but Anna McPartlin works so well with her cleverly crafted (and often humorous) dialogue that you turn the pages knowing every character equally, invested in each of their lives in different ways.

The truth is, each of these women is praying for a miracle. Each of these women hope that someone or something will fix their world for them and give them the one thing they truly want, but will any of them receive a miracle from above or will they find it within themselves?

Anna's books are always expertly written, highly emotional, and thought-provoking. Her latest has lived up to all of the above and more.

Waiting for the Miracle is delicate in its approach. Considered. Raw and real but gentle.

Like a hug from a best friend after a heartbreaking ordeal. It is everything I expected and so much more.

I urge you to read this book. Have a box of tissues nearby, but devour it and then pass it on. It's a book that deserves to be read.


Many Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for inviting us on this Blog Tour.

Waiting for the Miracle is published by: Zaffre Books
ISBN:978-183877-389-2

Question-why is it only now that I am hearing about this quite incredible author?

I feel I should hand in my library cards, sack myself as a self confessed reader and go back to school, this amazing book will change lives, leave you feeling bereft , stunned and fully intending to plunder her back catalogue.

Honestly not even sure where to begin with how to describe the pure joy and release that reading 'Waiting For The Miracle' brings?

Maybe here-

''Who the fuck leaves their wife on a Tuesday?''

Weaving two seamless narratives, from the not so distant past and the present, in 2010, this is a deeply moving and well constructed meditation on the internal, and external, expectations of motherhood.

Taking Ireland as the back drop, in itself a character in the novel, the story explores the way in which farm girl Catherine, is used and discarded and ultimately abandoned in the 'care' of a local institution for girls who find themselves in the family way.

In 2010, the women who meet at a group for those undergoing IVF, and other ways of making their dreams of having a family come true, find themselves connecting in an all together unexpected way.

Catherine's narrative is absolutely devastating-her family, her town, the boy who got her pregnant, all leave her frightened and alone. Her strength to keep going in the face of unimaginable terror just alternately enrages and suffocates you, you feel her terror so keenly and relate the suffering to the horrendous, and still emerging, scandals of the Irish Catholic church selling babies. Families paid for them to take their errant family members, paid to have them back when they had been 'cured of their wilfulness' and the nuns pocketed the money they received in the sales of children to 'real mothers', often overseas.

The late 70's is not ancient history, there was the availability of contraception and access to abortions in mainland England, however, the alternatives for young girls who 'found themselves with child' (it was never the fault of the male, of course) were unthinkable, heart-breaking and often fatal.

That Catherine not only stands up for herself and demands to keep her baby is an astonishing feat of will power, she is adamant that her child will not be sold or given away. Her prayers to the saint of lost souls, St Jude, are for such a small miracle, to be allowed to keep her child. But the harsh reality of being a single parent in late 70's/early 80's Ireland are far from an attainable.

In 2010, Caroline, Nancy, Janet and Ronnie, things are very different. Caroline and husband Dave have agreed the toll of IVF is too much and the last attempt was the very last one. Except Caroline is still holding out for the tiniest miracle that Dave will change his mind...

Nancy and her partner, Linda, are hoping to use her twin Paul's sperm so that their IVF baby will have both their DNA. Is this just a little too close for comfort in the familial relations stakes?

Janet and her husband Jim have had multiple miscarriages followed by a Molar Pregnancy which has devastated them both. Do they have anything left to try again?

And then there is newcomer Ronnie, an American who breezes in and has a Marmite effect on the friends. But is there more to her than meets the eye?

As the dual time lines come together, you find yourself completely immersed in the voices of the women-their fight and conflict to have a child is detailed so thoroughly and realistically, and yet , there is such a sense of humour that I think comes out in the darkest of situations. For example, I got the biggest belly laugh at Janet and Jim calling their molar pregnancy 'Derek', after his father,because he is a major pain in the arse. As the women rationalise, their chances of having a baby are 1:3, 1 of them could be lucky. But which one?

The way that Anna writes is so brilliantly simple and clever, she captures not only the dialogue between several different types of couples but that of a group of women so succinctly that you can see all the characters vividly. And whilst Catherine's story is a lynchpin of the story of how it can be to have a baby when you step outside the rigid rules of a patriarchal society leaving the woman tarnished, and the man spotlessly clean, the process of patriarchal bargaining takes place with the nuns and the girls' mothers as much as it does in the way that the men uphold their virtue.

The expectations on women to choose between career and children, the notion of having it all and being able to pick and choose when to have a child is so fraught with so very many potholes that sometimes I am genuinely amazed we ever even had any. The odds of you being you are so astronomical that to choose to push down and denigrate a non traditional family, an alternative family unit, or not help those in need of support is sincerely baffling. The tears will flow long and hard reading about the abuses done in the name of religion, which stills affects so many thousands of displaced women and childless mothers to this very day. And maybe, the miracle that each of these women were waiting for, already existed within themselves as they fought to be the best version of themselves that they could be, whether they were parents or not. The fact that Catherine's child did not leave the Institution with her does not negate her love or her mission to let her child know she was loved.

This is a truly spectacular novel on so many fronts, I urge you to read it!

Set in Ireland in 2010 this wonderful story transports you between modern day and the Ireland of 1976 where unmarried girls were sent away in sin to have their babies. This story contains triggers for infertility, child loss and discusses adoption, taking you on an emotional rollercoaster that you don't quite see coming.

I love books by this author and once again her words are powerful on the page and bring to life the anguish and heartbreak of these strong young mothers. Catherine is just 16 when she falls pregnant and enters a living hell where her baby girl is stolen away from her never to be seen again. Fast forward to 2010 and we meet Caroline at her support groups as she struggles to come to terms with never becoming a mother.

A super yet emotional story, filled with strong women that all bring different personalities to the table to provide a support network and friendship to eachother. This will pull at your heartstrings and leave your emotions feeling raw. A highly recommended read from an author whose books are always emotionally charged and insightful, as you think back to how these young women suffered and the loss that they could never recover from.

Waiting for the Miracle is a gritty tale of several women with interlaced stories and a deep connection. I felt Catherine's story held it all together well with a roller coaster of emotions and experiences.

A story of hope over heartbreak told with Irish humour and charm.
For friends Caroline, Janet, Natalie and Ronnie, motherhood is a distant dream. They meet at a self-help group for women desperate for a baby, and soon form a close-knit bond, supporting each other not just through the perils and pitfalls of IVF treatment, miscarriages and artificial insemination, but also though the emotional fallout their constantly dashed dreams have on their relationships with partners and family.
Caroline’s husband Dave feels second-best. Janet suspects her husband of having an affair, and Natalie is beginning to believe her partner, Linda, isn’t fully committed to a baby. Ronnie, meanwhile, keeps her reasons for joining the group secret.
As their stories unfold, another is told, that of 17-year-old Catherine, single, pregnant and at the mercy of the nuns in the Irish convent where she is sent to give birth in 1976. Like our present-day heroines, she is determined to be a mother, and fights tooth and nail for her child in the face of her family’s indifference and society’s cruel disapproval.
This story takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, from sharing the heartache and hopes of Caroline and her fellow mums-in-waiting, to experiencing Catherine’s anguish and heartbreak as she realises she is truly on her own in her battle against authority. And yet you’ll be laughing through your tears at the sharp and funny dialogue as the narrative toggles between past and present, exposing the disgraceful history of how single mothers were once treated while exploring how, even in our times, achieving happiness through motherhood isn’t ever easy for too many women.

I’ve enjoyed a few of Anna McPartlin’s previous books and this is probably my new favourite of hers. A really people focussed story it features several characters from a support group in 2010 for women struggling with fertility interspersed with the story of Catherine based in 1970’s Ireland and the times of the mother and baby homes. Although it’s not obvious for quite some time how Catherine’s story fits into this it’s a fabulous read of an incredibly strong woman during horrendous times. The women from 2010 are an amazing bunch, very varied in their lives and struggles and the impact newcomer Ronnie has in uniting them beyond the group is great. This is a very emotional read but I highly recommend it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

This is a dual timeline read, set in 1974 following the life of Catherine whose found herself pregnant at sixteen and 2010, where it follows the lives of four women in a support group, each with their own reason for being there.

It’s beautifully written, but also a heart-wrenchingly emotional probe of motherhood.

The characters are funny, but unforgettable in their own way.

I loved The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes and it’s sequel, both written by this talented author, so I looked forward to starting her new one as soon as NetGalley granted it. As usual for this author it was full of big emotive issues, mixed with the funniest dialogue, strong female characters and an interesting set up. In the narrative from 2010, our four characters meet at an infertility support group. There is a second narrative from 1976 where we meet Catherine, a young girl from Ireland who becomes pregnant as a teenager and is sent to one of the now infamous homes for young mothers, run by the Roman Catholic Church. Coming from a Catholic family myself and finding out I would find it hard to conceive at the age of 25, I was concerned the storyline might be too close to home. I remember being given a list of telephone numbers at the hospital, of women who volunteered for a charity supporting those who had miscarried. I only called one number. Next to the names on the list was a little warning that some of these women had gone on to have healthy pregnancies and there might be children in the house when I called. I knew my outcome would be different by this point. I didn’t have the mental or physical strength to keep getting pregnant, then lose the baby multiple times. I had decided after losing my fourth child that I couldn’t keep going. It was a very hard choice, but the right one for me. I can remember ringing that number for support, only to hear a baby crying in the background. I put the phone down and locked myself in the bathroom so I could grieve in peace. As I read though, I found a kinship with these characters and wished I’d had a group like this to belong to, at a time when my family and friends were supportive, but really didn’t know what it felt like.

Within the group there are women at different stages of this difficult journey. There are so many different reasons for infertility and the author covers most situations within the group: those pursuing IVF; some going through the adoption process; some using donor sperm to have a baby with their same sex partner; women with medical conditions like endometriosis. One has anti-phospho lipid syndrome (often named Hughes Syndrome after the doctor who discovered it) which is my diagnosis and means that it’s possible for patients to get pregnant, but difficult to sustain a pregnancy. Patients with Hughes have sticky blood, making it very difficult to for blood flow to go through the placenta and to the baby. Pregnancies usually fail within the first trimester, my latest miscarriage was at just 12 weeks with twins. As the character in the book relates to the others, often it isn’t detected until the first scan and then an operation must be performed to ‘to remove the products of conception’. As she points out, the medical language may create a distance for the doctor, but for the patient it feels very wrong to see the words ‘termination’ on the consent forms and even harder to sign away the baby you have wanted for so long. The interactions with the NHS were so true to life it felt like the author had popped inside my head and rifled around in my memories. However, there was comfort in knowing this was a shared experience and that other women had been through this feeling exactly the same as I did.

Four women with very different reasons for their fertility problems are drawn together in the group and slowly develop a very strong friendship. A new face in the group sessions seems to bring them together. Ronnie is challenging at first. She seems super confident, asks uncomfortable questions, and invites the others to the pub. She has a strange ability to pull uncomfortable truths and intimate details from those around her, but never seems to disclose much of herself. I found myself starting to question why she was there in the group. Yet as time went on I warmed to her, she seemed feisty and frequently made me smile. Caroline is just about to hit rock bottom in her fertility journey. They have spent a lot of money on medical bills and rounds of IVF, but have never conceived. After discussion with her husband some time ago, they are meant to be never going through it again. Yet Caroline can’t stop yearning for a baby of her own and in her desperation she’s driving her husband away. To make things worse her beloved dog has just died. In a very fragile state she starts to consider just one more round of fertility treatment but her husband isn’t on board. She has to face a very hard decision; is her desire to be a mother, stronger than her love for him? Natalie and her girlfriend have decided to have children using a donor who is very close to home - her girlfriend’s brother. Her girlfriend thinks that if the baby is a blood relative to her, she might be more invested in the idea of becoming parents. Janet’s husband may be having an affair with one of the receptionists from his work place. How can she find out what’s going on? The women are very much a team and support each other, even if one of them is doing something crazy.

Between the present day sections there is the story of a girl called Catherine, back in 1976. Catherine finds herself pregnant after her very first sexual experience with a boy from school. He claims to love her, but she is about to be let down very badly. Catherine’s family are poor, whereas her boyfriend’s family are wealthy and well known in the area. His father is a local magistrate. So when Catherine tells her religious parents what has happened they immediately summon the parish priest and before she knows it Catherine is sitting at the back of his back being shipped off to the nuns at a mother and baby home. We already know the terrible way young girls were treated in these places from films like The Magdalene Laundries and Philomena, but I must admit there were parts of Catherine’s story that genuinely made me cry. I couldn’t believe the casual brutality of these nuns, who are supposed to be women of God. They really made my blood boil. I found it was Catherine’s story that drove the book for me, her plight kept me reading and there were a couple of moments in her story where I was so involved I forgot everything going on around me! The heartbreak, betrayal and psychological abuse this girl goes through is horrendous and her ability to keep going and survive is incredible.

I think that this author enjoys writing about women’s issues and their friendships. She has an awareness, that although we love our partners in life, it is often our female friends that hold us up and keep us going through the worst times. I refer to my best friends as my non-sexual life partners! I had an inkling about the mystery at the centre of the story. What did happen to the baby Catherine had stolen from her at the mother and baby home? I read this in a day, because I was so drawn in by the story and these women who felt completely real to me. Anna McPartlin has such a storytelling skill. She has a way of mining your emotions until you’re sobbing over someone who isn’t even real. For those who’ve been through any of the experiences featured, it might be a difficult read in parts, but I promise you won’t feel let down or misrepresented by the way she depicts your experience. This was sad, funny, warm and poignant. A little bit like life.

Another fantastic story from Anna Partlin which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and can whole heartedly recommend. The subject of infertility is sensitively addressed so I can see that it has been fully researched. The story is divided into two plotlines which I liked.
Catherines story from 1976 begins when she is sent away to a convent for pregnant girls at the tender age of 16. Then there is the other tale of four women who just seem to gravitate together at an infertility meeting they attend in 2010. What all of these characters share is their bravery, loneliness and desperate to tell their stories. I was totally engrossed with each of them and their lives but it was Catherines one that had the most impact for me as the fear that she endured after her abhorrent treatment by the Nuns will stay with me.
Just two words to describe this book bloody brilliant!
My thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC . A worthy 5 star rating.

I loved Rabbit Hayes and its sequel so much that I was almost nervous to read Anna McPartlin's latest novel. But I should have known that it wouldn't disappoint. Waiting for the Miracle is filled with the highs and lows of a wonderful cast of characters and it's a truly wonderful read.

I love Anna McPartlin books, 'The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes' is one of my favourite books ever, so I know I'll get a great story, some amusing parts and that I'll need a big box of tissues!

This book flips back and forth between a current group of women trying to get pregnant and attending a support group of like-minded women, and Catherine in the 1970s who falls pregnant and ends up in one of those awful mother and baby institutions for 'fallen' pregnant women.
There was a real diverse group of women and I really enjoyed all their stories, including the mysterious Ronnie who is a newcomer to the group, but Catherine's story was my favourite part of the book. She was very innocent to start off with but, because of everything, became a strong woman because she had to.

I did wonder how it would all come together initially, but as the book goes on I started to suspect the connection, although I never really knew how it was all going to end.

It is certainly an emotional journey for all the women, some more than others, a real roller-coaster of a read involving pregnancies and the various relationships, some who survive the stress and some who don't, and you will definitely need a big box of tissues by the end. Another unforgettable read by the very talented Anna McPartlin.

A beautiful book that deals with difficult situations with sensitivity and warmth. A first for me by Anna I think I look forward to more

Thank you for the advanced copy of another new author for me.

This book dealt with some really difficult topics and I could not put it down. Really well written and touched me in many ways.

Truly wonderful read.