One of Those Mothers

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'Domestic noir up there with the best of them. Beautiful settings, believable characters, and a moral quandary to keep you reading through the night - One of Those Mothers is a page turner in all the right ways. - Jacqueline Bublitz, Before You Knew My Name

'With stiletto-sharp observation, vibrantly drawn characters and a deeply disturbing secret at its heart, One of Those Mothers had me in its grasp from the first chapter. A terrific debut.' - Charity Norman, Remember Me

'A winning contemporary tale," she wrote. "Contemporary woes - children spending too much time online, the ubiquitous and worsening exposure to pornography, terror of the climate crisis, alcohol and substance use and negotiating modern marriage - are entertainingly evoked." - Stephanie Johnson, Newsroom

The residents of Point Heed keep nice houses and sign up as parent help at the local school. Occasionally they cheat on their taxes. Sometimes they fantasise about having sex with someone other than their partner. And every now and then they do drugs. But that doesn't make them bad people, does it

When a local father is convicted of the possession and distribution of child pornography, the tight-knit, middle-class community is quick to unravel. He is granted permanent name suppression, and soon friend turns on friend, neighbour delivers up neighbour, and hysteria rapidly engulfs them all. Who among them was capable of such moral trespass

Bridget, Roz and Lucy have been friends forever. Their lives revolve around their children, their community, each other. With their husbands and kids, they holiday together every year. Every year, until last summer, when everything went so terribly wrong.

They tell you things are never as bad as you fear, but what if they're worse Worse than you could have ever imagined.

Were they all complicit Certainly, they were guilty of looking in all the wrong places.

Reviews

'Wildly compelling, refreshingly raw exploration of motherhood, friendship and the haunting anxieties of parenthood.' - Claire Mabey, Books Editor, The Spinoff, former festival director, Verb Wellington


'A gloriously claustrophobic and page-turning tale of friendships, relationships and ultimate loyalties. Megan Nicol Reed pins middle-class motherhood to the specimen board and watches it squirm. Compulsory (and cautionary) reading ahead of your next group holiday.' - Kim Knight, senior writer, New Zealand Herald

'A contemporary tale of complex relationships where loyalties and values are tested. Written by a natural storyteller, it will keep you thinking.' - Stacey Morrison, television and radio host

'Searing and darkly funny. Megan Nicol Reed cleverly cuts right through to the euphoria and claustrophobia of family and friendship. Extraordinarily gripping.' Frances, Morton, Sunday Magazine and Your Weekend editor

'Not every columnist has the chops to sustain a 287-page novel, but Nicol Reed has without doubt succeeded. Her handling of narrative tension throughout, of holding back information and meting it out at just the right pace, reveals the skill of a much more experienced novelist. It is not until past the half-way mark that the reader learns what happened on that summer holiday, which was perfect timing to keep me flipping pages long into the night. Oh, and by the way, Aotearoa, it's official: we have a new Queen of the Twist. If you enjoyed Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies or Christos Tsiolkas's The Slap, this one's for you.' - Caroline Barron, ketebooks.co.nz

'Nicol Reed excels when she writes about the social minutiae of Bridget's life. The parents' association meeting is delicious, with its 'junior Tories' group of bitchy young mothers. Then there's the class drinks with older women Roz calls 'classic clingers-on: foreheads smooth and round as boiled eggs. A very confident debut.' - Linda Herrick, New Zealand Listener

Author Bio

Thrice nominated for New Zealand's best columnist, Megan Nicol Reed spent seven long years mining her life for a column that originally ran in the Sunday Star Times and then the New Zealand Herald's Canvas magazine.

Loved and hated in equal measure, the former journalist's weekly words never failed to provoke a reaction among readers. She became particularly known for her gentle skewering of the middle classes.

Megan lives in Auckland with her husband, two teenage children and dog. One of Those Mothers is her first novel.