Why would you walk away from the one person you can’t live without?

As a child, Vicky Hall never had the sort of family she wanted. The least important person in her new step-family, ignored by her mother in favor of her two younger half-siblings, Vicky was always an afterthought. Sitting alone at her graduation ceremony at the age of twenty-one, she vows to create her own family and her own life, one which is full of the love and attention she has always craved.

When Vicky meets William and falls pregnant in Greece that summer, it isn’t planned. But the two of them believe they can make it work, showering their child with the love which they believe should be enough.

But when her son Theo is two, Vicky leaves him in the care of her mother-in-law, walks out of her front door and drives to a hotel where she takes a room for the night. She doesn’t return.

It’s unthinkable.

What kind of mother does that?

The kind who is hiding a story you can never imagine.

The Mother I Could Have Been is a heartbreaking story of impossible decisions and second chances, from the bestselling author of The Silent Wife and The Woman I Was Before. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I couldn’t resist Rowan. He was my favourite by far because he was innately naughty. He hadn’t yet mastered the art of throwing a bomb and not being anywhere in the vicinity when it went off. I adored him.

I sometimes couldn’t believe she was my daughter, with her endless stream of rules and regulations. ‘Who is coming tonight?’ She managed to say it as though I’d have invited all the local miscreants and some dodgy men with an unhealthy interest in children.

You’re brilliant with customers. I love how you tell them to bugger off so politely they enjoy the journey.

It was amazing how clearly I could see the flaws in other people’s mothering but would need surgical intervention to patch up the gaping wounds in my own.

He carried the message like a wise man cupping a gift of myrrh, reverential, with a sense of ceremony, big man coming through with big news.

The woman pursed her lips so tightly, I wanted to tell her that in twenty years’ time, her lipstick wouldn’t bleed, it would haemorrhage .

You are such a drama queen. I don’t even recognise the childhood you think you had. No, Mum and Dad weren’t perfect, but they were good enough. You talk about them as though we were left chewing on scraps in a dungeon, fending for ourselves.

My Review:

I have a new favorite author – despite her heavy deployment of angsty and emotive story threads. I was so absorbed by her brilliantly insightful and evocative writing, complex and profoundly flawed characters, and witty wordplay that I didn’t seem to mind the eye-burning, heart-squeezing, or ire-producing storylines that I typically eschew. I was instantly mesmerized and sucked into this perceptive and thoughtfully crafted tale and resented any intrusion or interruption to my perusal for those unimportant distractions such as sleep, hygiene, whining husband, or nutritional sustenance. Kerry Fisher is a phenomenal writer with powerful word voodoo. I am driven to amass all her clever words and have added her entire listing to my TBR.