It’s a particular pleasure today – and it actually feels like rather a privilege, because this is such a special book – to be helping launch the blog tour for A Mother’s Last Wish by Jo Bartlett, and sharing my publication day review. Published today (26th January) by Boldwood Books, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. My thanks, as ever, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
Just a short introduction this time – you already know how much I loved Jo’s Cornish Midwife series, and I’m equally enjoying her Cornish Country Hospital series too. She’s a quite wonderful storyteller, creating characters who live on the page, often facing their own difficulties, always with the most perfect emotional touch. Her standalone books can be a little different from her series – a stronger emotional charge, a more pronounced edge of darkness, but the same writing I always enjoy. If you missed her last, The Girl She Left Behind, it’s one I’d very much recommend – an emotional journey, totally immersive, and story that gripped me from the very beginning through to its very last page (you’ll find my full review here).
So let’s take a look at her latest…
Two sisters, one heartbreaking promise…
To everyone who knows them, Louisa and Tom are the perfect couple. They have two beautiful kids, Stan and Flo, and are about to celebrate ten years of being happily married. Life is perfect. But when Lou is dealt devastating news, that perfect life is turned upside down and Lou and Tom must reevaluate the very foundations their marriage is built on.
Lou’s main concern is who will look after her children if she’s not there to care for them? Will anyone be able to love them like she does?
Holly can’t face the news that Lou is sick. As her older twin sister, she and Lou have always been together, and Holly has always tried to protect Lou. So she’ll do anything, promise anything, to make Lou feel safe and happy. Holly loves Stan and Flo fiercely, but with no children of her own can she ever be the mother her sister wants and needs for her children?
Determined to make the most of every last precious moment, Lou’s final wish for her family is to show them what it really means to live and love. And as Tom and Holly try to navigate their own pain, their only care is to shower Flo and Stan with love and help them make the most of every moment together.
With the inevitability of its outcome, this was never going to be an easy book to read – Lou’s journey following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was raw, excruciatingly painful, and very emotional. I read it over the course of three days – often having to set it aside, just to breathe a little – and felt entirely part of the family’s experience, through every devastating setback and with an immense sympathy for her concerns about leaving her young children (and her husband Tom, and twin sister Holly) behind. The blow they’ve been dealt is even crueller because of Holly’s own earlier successful fight against a cancer diagnosis – the universe can be so very unfair at times – and we learn that they are particularly close because of the appalling parenting they were both subjected to.
It almost feels wrong to write a review in terms like characterisation, the relationships and their emotional impact because – such is the author’s skill – every moment of this book felt entirely real. When they hurt, I could feel their pain – and when they cried, I wept with them. And after that, it might seem strange to say that I found the whole story particularly uplifting – it’s overflowing with love, and I could feel that throughout every bit as strongly as the immense sadness at a life cut short. The characterisation is quite superb – however low her spirits, Lou never loses her wry sense of humour (or her sassiness – I loved her so much…), and there are unexpected moments of sheer joy as she attempts to cram in all the positive experiences her children will remember. As the author puts it, she’s finding her own way to keep living while she’s dying, not wanting to waste a precious moment. And, on a lighter note, that includes not suffering fools gladly – the times when she puts insufferable “friend” Billie in her place are just magnificent, and I wanted to hug her even more than I already did.
Her attempts to make sure her children are cared for after her death are so real and understandable, however impossible to achieve – as are her interactions with the on-line end-of-life forum (something many of us turn to in challenging times – I vividly recall my own experiences when dealing with mum’s dementia), including the cruelty of the trolls who only seek to make a bad situation worse. And something I particularly liked about this book was that we didn’t just see everything through Lou’s eyes – we have Tom and Holly’s perspectives too, and their own emotional turmoil while providing the best support possible was quite wonderfully handled. And, as we shared their inner thoughts, I entirely empathised with many of their complex feelings too, and their emotional honesty – especially Holly, concerned that she was so deeply involved because it felt good for once to be truly needed.
And, as a review, I think that’s enough. If this was – at times – a challenging book to read, it must have been an incredibly difficult one to write. And I thought it was an absolute triumph – written from the heart, drawing on her own real-life experience, making the reader feel so very deeply for the individuals at the book’s centre. It might not be the book for everyone – especially if they have their own struggles, because it might just be too painful. But the book really is so much more than that – if I found myself sobbing helplessly at times, the perfectly judged ending left me hopeful for some happiness in everyone’s future. Extraordinary writing, and an entirely unforgettable read – and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.
About the author
Jo Bartlett was born a stone’s throw from the English Channel and still lives near the sea in Kent. Jo has had numerous bestsellers in the UK, Australia and Canada, including a UK Top 10. Since joining Boldwood Books in 2021, Jo has had a further eight bestselling novels in The Cornish Midwife series.
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