Crying in the Car: Reflections on Life and Motherhood (Karen Andrews, Miscellaneous Press)

Karen Andrews blogs at miscmum.com and previously edited and published a collection of writing from blogs, Miscellaneous Voices. Crying in the Car is a collection of short stories, essays and poems, based around the themes of ‘motherhood’, ‘desire and loss’, and ‘escape from urbanity’. Andrews’ passion for her craft is evident, as is her intuition as a writer and observation of sentiment and detail. The ‘Crying in the Car’ of the title, alas, is not the sound of toddlers wailing in the backseat, but that of a parent sobbing in her broken-down car outside her daughter’s school. Motherhood is not a huge presence in the collection, but one of the strongest stories for me was ‘An absent mother apologises on her son’s fifth birthday’, which encapsulated the raw emotion of early parenthood. Other topics under reflection include: IVF treatment, abortion, love, marriage, film, technology, parenting, religion and crowd behaviour. Enjoyable and at times thought-provoking, Crying in the Car will suit short-story or small-press sections, and should appeal to short-story fans and followers of contemporary or local writing.

Joanne Shiells is a former retail book buyer and editor

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Category: Reviews