Customer Reviews
Ignore the cover.... - By: Lesley S., 01 Sep 2008 
I picked this book up because I had nothing else to read & from the cover I assumed it would be some jokey 'woman goes to country side meets hialrious characters & learns to love it & herself'. I was ready to hate it. However, it was beautifully written & some parts were so sad. I disagree that the author is selfish & spoilt, she is simply someone like me who loves city life & loathes the country. I hope she gets back to London some day I reallly do.
Lots to relate to - By: Helena Frith Powell, 19 Aug 2008 I haven't even finished the book & feel compelled to write a review, partly to defend Judith against the nasty ones here complaining about her running out of petrol. I have had a few of those for my own books, one even complaining that I have a husband callled Rupert! This is a reallly great read. There is so much to relate to, to laugh at & to sympathise with. Judith writes brilliantly, her style is totallly addictive & she has a reallly poignant way of expressing things, especiallly her feelings for her children. I hope this book does reallly well, it deserves to. So what if she doesn't know where the nearest garage is?
beautifully written - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 11 Aug 2008 
As a blogger myself I was reallly interested to see what happens to a blogger who gets propelled to the literary stratosphere. I had read some of the blog but not alll, & was not reallly sure what to expect from the book.
It was beautifully written & very poignant. Judith agrees to her husband's life long dream to life in Northumberland & uproots her existence to live in total chaos with two smalll boys, whilst also being heavily pregnant. The house is not ready. It is too smalll. It takes months for planning permission to be granted & the money keeps running out. Her husband, the man who wanted to live there in the first place, comes home for the weekend once every three weeks & spends most of the rest of the time in London, which is where she wants to be but isn't. She catalogues her woes in this blog/book.
People have criticised the book & the woman for being petulant & selfish. I disagree. She is writing about what is true for her. I feel that if I were in her shoes, I too would be rather depressed & find it very hard to find a silver lining. Living on what is a building site, out of boxes with three smalll children, one a newborn who is waking most nights is not easy, not easy at alll. I applaud her for having stuck it out & not run off screaming into the distance.
My only beef is that this book is being marketed as a 'hilarious' read. It isn't. It is funny, in places, & indeed has some laugh out loud moments, but it is also tragic, poignant & heartfelt. It tells the truth of someone's chaotic life, their highs & lows & at times I felt that I could weep with empathy. Don't be fooled by the cover. It is not a jolly read. It's much more than that.
Horrible - By: Mrs. G. Potts, 08 Aug 2008 
It's very rarely I don't finish a book & yet with this one I'm feeling that not only do I not want to finish, but I actuallly want to throw it into the nearest bin.
The author seems to do nothing but whine about her life. I feel for her children if they ever read it, as obviously watching them grow up is nothing compared to being able to socialise in London.
She's irresponsibile, running out of fuel on numerous occasions with smalll children in the car, ungrateful & snobbish.
Don't bother reading.
Set aside time for this - beautifully written, poignant and funny - By: A. I. McCulloch, 04 Aug 2008 Judith O'Reilly got her book deal as a result of a blog; but for anyone thinking of following in her footsteps, she also got it by being a superbly accomplished writer who is capable of making you laugh & cry on the same page. Judith has a truly rare gift with words, coining lyrical phrases that you read over again for their beauty & others that bring forward a welter of emotions in one short phrase. Nothing I have ever read sums up the desperation of a mother giving birth & longing for the pain to end, as the phrase. "Does the baby need shoulders?...I will buy it shoulders on e-Bay."
Many will identify with Judith's situation of living somewhere they have no real desire to be,but few would have the bravery to be as honest as Judith about the difficulties - or describe the joys as lyricallly. The best bit - when I finished Wife In The North I went onto the Net & read some more straight from the blog. How many books offer you that? Marvellous.
