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Confident prose and relevant themes enrich this light-hearted look at how far mothers will go to ensure their child’s happiness.

About the Book

[from the publishers]

A laugh-out-loud debut that will delight fans of Liane Moriarty and Fiona Higgins, this is The Devil Wears Prada at the school gates.

Distinctly middle-class parents, Maria and Joe have committed every bit of available income to giving their daughters Kate and Sarah the best education possible, which to them means attending the most exclusive girls school in the state. But when Kate befriends the spoilt and moody Mirabella, Maria must learn to play nicely with Mirabella’s mother, Bea – the beguiling yet beastly queen of the toffee-nosed school mothers at Riverton.

A series of social blunders and intentional snubs make Maria determined to ensure Kate’s rightful position both at school and on the Saturday morning netball team, but as Maria works hard to negotiate the social hierarchy, her previously contented life with Joe falls far from view.

My Thoughts

I’ll be right up front and say that when I read the blurb I did not want to read this novel. If you follow my reviews you’ll know that I tend toward more angsty literature with a preference for suspense. So imagine my surprise when I opened the first page and couldn’t stop reading. Here’s why:

The story structure is inspired; Disney has Maria narrate her story from the point at which the glamour of the in-crowd has grown thin, giving her insights into her own behaviour and the cost to her family, including her nine-year-old daughter, Kate, the reason for all her choices. This saves her from coming across as a shallow social climbing mother. The more of an outsider Maria becomes, the more her true self emerges, her wit is sharper, as is her ability to recognise true friendship and the real needs of her family.

The scenes between Maria and the glamorous mothers (the Bea’s, as she calls them) were excruciatingly realistic. You wonder why Maria bothers. Then Disney shows you Kate’s tears and how the mothers’ attitudes trickle down to their daughters. Though many of the characters (as seen through Maria’s eyes) are stereotypical, Disney allows us to discover that even they have facets, that there are events in their lives that outsiders could never guess. There are moments of sharp insight, deep irony and a nice sense of foreboding as events unfold around the parents and their off-spring. Everything culminates on the netball court as Kate’s team look headed for the grand final, but for the parents there is more to come and some will learn a hard lesson.

Up and In lives up to the blurb and delivers so much more. It has ‘all the feels’. It made me laugh, it made me angry, and there were so many relateable moments that I looked at myself and how I judge others, especially those family members for whom this novel is scarily reflective. It left me pondering who the real schoolyard bullies are and how we are all shaped by our upbringing. I’m glad I took the chance on something outside my comfort zone.

Highly recommended.

My copy courtesy of the publishers via NetGalley

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About the Author

Australian author, Deborah Disney, grew up in the regional city of Toowoomba and now lives in Brisbane with her husband and two school-aged daughters. Deborah has a BA/LLB from the University of Queensland and practised as a solicitor for a number of years prior to having children. She chose to specialise in litigation law as that seemed like the best preparation for what is now her looming battle – mothering her daughters through the teenage years. Deborah’s first novel, UP AND IN, is a satirical look at the interactions of school and sporting mums.

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