“THIS MOTHER’S DAY YOU WILL CALL HER MUMMY

Glamorous, beautiful Mummy has everything a woman could want. Except for a daughter of her very own. So when she sees Kim – heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop – she does what anyone would do. She takes her. But foul-mouthed little Tonya is not the daughter that Mummy was hoping for.

As Tonya fiercely resists Mummy’s attempts to make her into the perfect child, Kim is demonised by the media as a ‘scummy mummy’, who deserves to have her other children taken too. Haunted by memories of her own childhood and refusing to play by the media’s rules, Kim begins to spiral, turning on those who love her.

Though they are worlds apart, Mummy and Kim have more in common than they could possibly imagine. But it is five-year-old Tonya who is caught in the middle…

CALL ME MUMMY. IT’LL BE BETTER IF YOU DO.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to be sharing my review of the rather brilliant Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker with you. Call Me Mummy is published by Viper Books today (that’s Thursday 25th February 2021) and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats. I chose to read and review a free ARC of Call Me Mummy but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Viper Books for sending me an early copy of the book.

Blimey. This book is an absolute corker! One of those brilliant pieces of fiction which worms its way under your skin and consumes your every waking moment. When I wasn’t immersing myself in Kim and Mummy’s devastating worlds (devastating for different reasons), I was thinking about the characters and pondering on what dastardly turn the author would take me – the reader – on next. Wowsers, what a debut!

Mummy has everything she has ever desired. Everything apart from one thing….a child of her own. When out shopping one day in the run up to Christmas, Mummy sees 5-year-old Tonya and strikes up a nervous conversation with the child. Heavily pregnant Kim, Tonya’s mother, is oblivious and is more concerned with her phone then the safety and wellbeing of her eldest child. So Mummy takes Tonya and runs. What Mummy doesn’t bargain for is that Tonya is as brash and as loud mouthed as her scummy mother and despite her best efforts, Tonya refuses point blank to become the perfect daughter. No matter how brutal the punishments she metes out or how hard Mummy tries to help Tonya. All the while, Kim is gradually falling apart. Demonised by the press and the public, subjected to mass vitriol on social media. And despite everything Mummy has done, it’s Kim who is the most hated woman in Britain…

Utterly captivating. I loved Call Me Mummy. If you’re a regular visitor to damppebbles then you’ll know I love my psychological fiction character driven and oh boy, this a perfect example of how to achieve that. You don’t get very many characters to like or admire in this book but they’ll definitely provoke a reaction and for me, that’s the most important thing. Mummy is a complicated woman who has a dark heart, although I think she would deny that vehemently – wanting to appear as perfection personified to everyone looking in. She’s all kinds of crazy and I loved to hate her. She made me furious with her treatment of Tonya, with her repeated references to religion and to her pursuit of perfection. And I loved every single moment I spent in her deluded company. What a character!

The blurb draws similarities between Mummy and Kim and I found myself making connections between the two woman as the story progressed. I thought the way the book highlights how we all like to ‘judge a book by its cover’ (not this book, obviously – the cover is fabulous!) was cleverly done as, I admit it, I didn’t like Kim at all to start with. But she grew on me. I can’t say I liked her by the end of the book and some of her actions and reactions made me feel quite uncomfortable, but I could *sort of* see where she was coming from. I guess what I’m trying to saying is that despite not agreeing with the things she did, I could understand her to some extent.

As for Tonya, she broke my heart. Even when she was swearing at Mummy (which made me laugh more than once) she was by far my favourite character in the book. What a feisty, courageous kid. Even if Mummy didn’t think she was perfect, I did. The reader gets to see things from several points of view, the main three being Mummy, Kim and Tonya. Tonya’s chapters sometimes made me giggle but more often than not, they almost broke me.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Call Me Mummy is a superb debut and I’m giddy with excitement to see what Baker publishes next. This book is the definition of a page-turner and I loved every minute I spent in Mummy’s dark and twisted world. If you’re looking for a compelling, all-absorbing read then make it Call Me Mummy. You won’t regret it and you can thank me later! I couldn’t put this book down, nor did I want to. Hypnotising, deliciously intense and totally unnerving. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review an ARC of Call Me Mummy. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker was published in the UK by Viper Books on 25th February 2021 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | Book Depository | bookshop.org | Goodreads | the damppebbles bookshop.org shop |

Tina Baker, the daughter of a window cleaner and fairground traveller, worked as a journalist and broadcaster for thirty years and is probably best known as a television critic for the BBC and GMTV. After so many hours watching soaps gave her a widescreen bum, she got off it and won Celebrity Fit Club. She now avoids writing-induced DVT by working as a Fitness Instructor.

Call Me Mummy is Tina’s first novel, inspired by her own unsuccessful attempts to become a mother. Despite the grief of that, she’s not stolen a child – so far. But she does rescue cats, whether they want to be rescued or not.