Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

THE BOOK THAT GOT ME IN THE GUT

Someone once told me that each baby born into the same family is, in fact, born into a very different family because ultimately, parenting is so different each time around — it’s so different, isn’t it, when you’ve had some experience of it before. And whilst two, three, or even more babies can be more complicated logistically, for me, nothing was more life changing, nothing was more challenging than that very first time. The highest of highs — becoming a mum, adoring my first born — through to the toughest of moments — still, becoming a mum, adoring my first born. Oh, how I loved her. Her smell. Her face. Her perfect nose. But. The nights. The exhaustion. The crying. The pacing around the kitchen holding her, staring at the oven clock, willing for time to move forward. How could it still be 3:21am??? How could time literally not move??? If you’ve been there, I think you’ll know what I mean.

Claire Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor was like a proverbial punch to the gut. It is an utterly searing novel about the realities of motherhood. It may not be the experience you had, mind, but oh my goodness, I challenge any mother to read this and not feel in some deep, deep way completely seen. Buying a first bed in IKEA. Losing your child in the supermarket. Standing, seemingly endlessly, in the playground. Consulting Doctor Google. Losing yourself. Finding yourself. A love like no other but holy hell, does it hurt. The mundane brought to such vivid powerful life in a way that will genuinely take your breath away. 

I laughed, I gasped and I felt so damn much because Kilroy writes with such weight and power; every single word is there because it means something and it has to be there, exactly where she’s placed it. 

This is an important, breathtaking book. I can’t recommend it highly enough and I know C feels the same too.

Enjoy this sunny Sunday folks ~ S