Review: Wife in the North by Judith O'Reilly

genre: memoir

rating: 4/5

Wife in the North is the memoir of Judith, a Brit who leaves her happy and exciting life in London to support her husband as he fulfills his dream of living in Northumberland, a rather barren stretch of land bordering Scotland. She has two children when she arrives in the country; a third arrives shortly after she does. Her husband, however, still works in London, so he is often away from home and Judith has to learn how to be the mum of three and a country girl, all on her own.

The book is initially written as a journal, but about halfway through, Judith starts a blog and the entries are then posts to her blog. I really loved reading this format – perhaps because I am an active blogger myself; it’s such an interactive way of getting to know someone. Her stories of parenting resonated so clearly and she certainly has wonderfully biting British wit. Certain stories and phrases had me laughing out loud; her life was so full of misadventures, even funnier because they aren’t fiction. Other posts were so poignant, she worries and stresses about many of the same things that I do, only she does a much better job of putting these fears into words.

Sometimes I felt she was a bit too down on her husband, but the transition to Northumberland was, quite obviously, a terrifically challenging one for her and I could understand her frustration. All in all, it was a pleasure to read. I especially loved reading about her tender love of her children, her fiercely protective nature (played out in blog posts about some incidents at her son’s school) and her joy in the moments that put mothering truly into perspective. For me, it was as much about those things as it was about her journey from city-woman to country-woman. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go look up her blog.