‘Mum – help, help!!!’
A sudden surge of panic catapults me out of bed and I gasp as the icy chill of the mid-July night slaps me vigorously, causing goose-bumps to break out across the length and breadth of my naked body.
When Terry Diamond is woken from a glorious dream by the sounds of her daughter screaming, she doesn’t immediately realise that her life is about to be turned upside down. But when she finds her daughter, Bronte, giving birth on her pristine lounge room carpet, she gets some hint of the changes her life is facing.
Terry has always prided herself on her organisational abilities, but in the week that follows these are put severely to the test. First, she has to deliver the baby. Then, there are trips to the hospital with a seemingly never-ending round of family and friends in attendance. She find herself avoiding her boyfriend, a pink-overall wearing handyman, without really knowing why. When she meets a stranger and falls helplessly in love, she really knows she’s lost it. Can she turn her life around?
Odd Socks is a laugh-aloud funny look at a week in the life of a forty-something woman as she discovers there are some things you just can’t plan. Whilst it is light and entertaining, it is also an insightful look into the workings of family relationships, friendships and romance. Terry and her friends have dramas aplenty as they claw their way through the daily chaos of their lives, but for every hardship there is an equal dose of humour.
A great read.
Odd Socks, by Ilsa Evans
First Published by Macmillan, 2005, this edition Pan, 2006.