I received a copy of Eternity Leave from the author in return for an honest review.

I gave the book 4* out of 5*

Blurb:

ETERNITY LEAVE:

A MUST READ FOR ANY PARENT…

FOUR CHILDREN. ONE MAN. HOW HARD CAN IT BE?…

Dear Chloe, Emma, Ruby, and Ollie,

‘I am applying for the position you haven’t advertised, has no specific job description and no hope of fiscal reward. I am applying because I have this misguided belief that it will look like it does on the cover photo of ‘The Complete Guide to Childcare’ where everyone appears relaxed and bright-eyed, not knackered, irascible or covered in snot.

Armed with a pristine copy of ‘The Complete Guide to Childcare’, ambitions to be the next literary giant and live off the grid, what could possibly go wrong?

‘Five minutes after Brigit’s maternity leave ended I realised the magnitude of my error. I was now the sole carer for two six-month old children who thought the hands smearing yoghurt over their faces belonged to somebody else, and a two-year old who walked for five steps and decided it wasn’t for her.’

I crashed into a world of mainly strong, resourceful, resilient women, a mountain of nappies to rival Kilimanjaro and a widening gap where my self-esteem used to reside.’

I am a man. I soon discovered this was not an excuse…’

My Review:

Simon Kettlewell’s Eternity Leave has been on my TBR list for some weeks, and I was sorry I’d left it so long because It’s an easy and enjoyable account of family life. Humorous yet poignant at the same time, it’s a story that many parents will recognise and identify with. Yet, as a stay at home father (not a mother) there is a obvious and unique slant on this account of the chores and trials that the narrator lives through, coping throughout the years from the children being babies to teenagers (oh, those wonderful years when the adult is never right and needs to be patronised!. Yet at no time is there any melodramatic response to these encounters, these carefully negotiated concessions.)

I ‘ve said this is an easy read, but only because it’s one any parent can recognise and nod along with (and grandparent might give a sigh of relief and laugh because its something they have lived through). But also it’s a cleverly written, evenly paced, droll story, told with great insight to reveal each of the children’s character – and judged so honestly, but with great affection – admirable in itself.

Yet, despite the wry humour (with which I thoroughly delighted in) there is also a sense of isolation in being a stay at home father; of being ‘the other’, that is threaded throughout the book. Even an inability to share with other parents what the narrator has shared with the reader. Even so, nowhere is the a sense that this father would rather be holding down any other kind of ‘job’ but that which he has been given. The narrative is undeniably optimistic and gives a sense of satisfaction and relish in his part in leading his family to adulthood in the best way he knows how.

This is yet another book by Simon Kettlewell that I thoroughly recommend.

Please see my previous review of his book of Dead Dog Floating: https://bit.ly/31eJMcw