Secret Mothers' Business One night, eight women, no kids, no holding back Paperback - 2006

Based on true conversations with real women, Secret Mothers' Business is a shocking, funny, irreverent and often heartbreaking look at women, friendships and motherhood.One evening in late June a group of women friends get together at Louise's house. Natalie brings the red wine, Tamara some gluten-free delight as well as her fully charged mobile (her husband still can't seem to get two children to bed without calling her at least 6 times). Fiona will haul out her aromatherapy kit and they can count on Lou to bring along at least a kilo of chocolate.
It is a regular reunion for eight very different women, with very different lives, secrets and fantasies. The only unifying factor? They are all mothers.
Be warned, you will recognise yourself and your friends within these pages. These are real conversations with real women, and they are conversations we've all had: about our weight, our fantasies - sexual and otherwise, those school lunchboxes, mother's guilt, our partners, the endless struggle to balance work, housework, family and sanity, and the seemingly impossible task of deciding what to feed the family every single night of the goddamn week.
In the tradition of I Don't Know How She Does It, with just a hint of The Bride Stripped Bare, this is a book about the tenuous nature of mothering, the beauty and complexity of friendships, and the way in which women support - and judge - one another. It is a revealing look at where women go as mothers, and at just how far it is possible to go without quite going insane.Preface
What You Need to Know About Us
The Menu
Chapter 1: A Handful of Ordinary Women
Chapter 2: The Velcro of Our Maternal Condition
Chapter 3: For the Sake of the Kids
Chapter 4: The Plate Reader
Chapter 5: The Arc of the Pendulum
Chapter 6: A Few of My Favourite Things
Chapter 7: Let Them Eat Cake
Chapter 8: The Kitten Bribe
Chapter 9: Other People's Business
Chapter 10: Where You Draw the Line
Chapter 11: Warriors of the Witching Hour
Chapter 12: Mothers Don't Get Sick
Chapter 13: What'll the Neighbours Say?
Chapter 14: Dignity, Above All, Dignity
Chapter 15: A Hunchback in a Bikini
Chapter 16: The Vagina Dialogues
Chapter 17: The Complimentary Penis
Chapter 18: A Survivor in Our Midst
Chapter 19: The Terminator
Chapter 20: The Morning After
Postscript