YRuth and Patrick are a happy couple – they’re both journalists and work at the same place. When Ruth is made redundant, she falls pregnant. Patrick’s parents have bought the couple a little house and his mother ‘helps’ Ruth furnish it (to the mother in law’s taste).
Something goes wrong when Ruth gets to the hospital for the delivery and she’s taken in for an emergency Caesarian-section. As a result, Ruth finds it hard to bond with her son. The situation goes from bad to worse and it becomes clear to the reader that Ruth is suffering from postpartum depression. Ruth, however, is in denial and tries to hide it from family and friends popping amitriptyline all the time.
Ruth accidentally overdoses on amitriptyline and alcohol, and goes to a facility to help her get over her postpartum depression- and they help her quit the pills too. When she comes back home, her husband has moved in with his parents with the baby. Ruth’s in-laws don’t trust her with baby Thomas…
This was an excellent book, I absolutely abhorred Ruth’s in-laws for not trusting her with the baby after she came back. I disliked her husband for not having a backbone, and I did like Ruth for how she handled the situation.
Read for The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt 35: Written in Third Person
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
