BOOK CLUB: Those Other Women

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Author: Nicola Moriarty
ISBN: 978-1-4607-5331-6
RRP: $29.99
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher

Those Other Women is the first book I have come across by Nicola Moriarty and I am eagerly awaiting the chance to read it. I have heard really good things about this one, as well as her previous release The Fifth Letter.

It’s on my shelf clamouring for my attention, but it has also arrived on the doorsteps of dedicated Beauty and Lace Club members who have read it and are waiting for the chance to tell you what they thought.

Those Other Women takes a look at the very controversial issues surrounding women with children and women without. It is often said that mothers are forever being judged for every little thing about their parenting, from the things they can control to the things that they never really had a say in. But it isn’t only mothers that are being judged because childless women also find themselves on the receiving end of judgement for their lifestyles. I think as a society there is a lot more judgement these days, or is it just that the anonymity and the dutch courage provided by the keyboard allow people to feel that they can be a lot more vocal about their judgements because there is less chance they’ll be pulled up for it.

Poppy is suffering in the aftermath of one of the worst betrayal’s, her husband left her for her best friend and now they are expecting a baby; even though he never wanted children. Her work colleague becomes a new friend and is determined to make the most of their freedom. They start a Facebook group to meet other women like them in the area, and offer a safe space to vent a little.

A safe space to vent is a little too good to be true and when the group takes off the frustrations of members starts to spill out in the real world; cafes, playgrounds and offices all become battlezones.

What started as harmless fun is becoming a runaway train.

The debate about who has it better is as old as time and I don’t think there will ever be a resolution. I think a well written and compelling story highlighting the issues has to be a good thing for society as a whole. I think the best thing to learn from anything like this is that you never know someone else’s journey so a conscious effort to try empathy instead of judgement is always a good idea.

I look forward to picking this one up one day soon but in the meantime check out what our members had to say.

Nicola Moriarty can be found at her Website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Those Other Women is published by Harper Collins and is available now through Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.

Thanks to Harper Collins 15 of our Beauty and Lace Members are already reading Those Other Women and you can read what they thought in the comments below. Please be aware there may be spoilers.

15 thoughts on “BOOK CLUB: Those Other Women

  1. This book shows us the reality of today’s social media society. I’m sure many have seen both facets, the horrendous bullying and also the joys of connectivity. The book delves into the issues of mothers and women who choose not to have children.
    I have read Nicola’s other books and I’m a huge fan but unfortunately this book didn’t do it for me. The first page was fantastic, loaded with mystery but the bulk of the story wasn’t as enticing. The ending however was quite good (no spoilers here!).

  2. I’ve read Nicola Moriarty’s other book ‘The fifth letter’ and it was fantastic, so I was really looking forward to reading this new one, ‘Those other women’. Whereas ‘The fifth letter’ had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t put it down, I found that ‘Those other women’ was a bit lacking. It was an ok book, but not my favourite. I think it would be a good read for people who are on social media a lot and especially those who actively get involved making comments etc. I don’t do that, but even so, the story reminded me that everyone has feelings, everyone has a story and that we should be very careful what we say not only online, but also in text messages and face-to-face because these days things can be spread so quickly throughout the community and once something has started it’s difficult to stop it. Once something is ‘out there’ it is always out there. Thank you Beauty and Lace for letting me review this book >:o)

  3. A contemporary story that hooks you in from the very first page! Set in Sydney, there was a lot of local flavour in it. I loved it!!! The story is about Poppy who never wanted children. She finds out that her husband and her best friend have an affair. To make matters worse, her friend falls pregnant and her husband is happy!

    A work colleague called Annalise takes up position as Poppy’s new best friend and persuades her to move to Parramatta – somewhere completely different to where she was living with her husband. They end up living in the same block of units.

    Poppy enjoys her new single, childless status but she still has anger towards her husband’s infidelity and upcoming fatherhood. So she and Annalise decide to create a facebook group for women who don’t want kids. The idea behind it was connecting like minded women to have a safe place to talk and air out any frustration.

    Unfortunately, their is an imposter/traitor in the group who also belongs to a mother’s facebook group which rivals Poppy’s group. Things turn ugly when Poppy writes up a post in anger which set non-mother’s against mother’s! This was not Poppy’s intention at all!

    I loved the way the book ended. And I loved the humour that Nicola Moriarity used. A must read book!!!

  4. I was excited to read those other women as I think it is based on a very relevant topic of today (social media) and the story line sounded different to a lot to other books. I found the book was a little slow to get into but once I got into it I did enjoy it.

    The book is divided into sections which are from the perspectives of each of the main characters. It seems at first like there is two main characters, but it turns out there are three. Poppy is career driving and never wants kids, and she believes the same of her husband until he cheats on her with her best friend who becomes pregnant. Poppy then becomes close with her work colleague Annalise who she knows has a secret past and slowly tries to find out about her. The third main character becomes more prominent towards the end of the story and is another work colleague Frankie who is a working mum of two.

    The book is based around a Facebook group that Poppy starts against mothers known as NOP, but the group quickly blows up into something big that isn’t what Poppy had planned. NOP is fighting against the popular mothers Facebook group MOP and it is all getting out of hand when they find out there is an imposter within NOP who is feeding info into MOP and onto the wider web. The story highlights how social media can go viral in a bad way, and how easy it is for people to be different behind their computer screens.

    The ending was different to I expected, and I can’t say too much without giving it away. All the little mysteries along the way are resolved before the end though so it is quite a clean finish.

  5. I really enjoyed having the chance to review The Other Woman by Nicola Moriarty. It definitely reflected the way things work nowadays with social media.
    It started with a group of women who have no desire to have children starting a Facebook group together and meeting up.
    Soon an imposter joins the group and starts ratting the ladies out to a mums group pitting then against one another.
    It highlights some of the real pitfalls of social media and how damaging it can be.
    I did enjoy the ending though and the journey throughout the book, it made me much more aware of what I’m doing on social media and how it effects others.

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