Wife in the North

by Judith O'Reilly

Book Overview

How far would you go to be the perfect mother? The hilarious Wife in the North by Judith O'Reilly, based on her enormously popular blog, recounts one woman's attempt to move her family and her life from cosmopolitan London to rural Northumberland.

Maybe hormones ate her brain. How else did Judith's husband persuade her to give up her career and move from her beloved London to Northumberland with two toddlers in tow?

Pregnant...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141033436
• ISBN13: 9780141033433
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited (UK)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Innovative style and a great read for tired, busy mums!

This was a fantastic book that I want to read over and over. I found her blog chapter style refreshing and so easy to pick up and put down when I only had a few minutes to devote. I related to this author on so many levels and was wanting for more when it was all over. It's a book of sacrafice, joy, displacement and sadness. I have laughed and cried while reading this book and hope Judith O'Reilly writes another one to compliment.

Portrait of a Life

This book is journalist Judith O'Reilly's account of her family's move from London to the Northumberland countryside. A devoted city girl, O'Reilly is married to a Northumberland man who dreams of going back, so she decided to grant his wish; she agreed to move north for two years. But for O'Reilly life in the north is hardly a dream. She misses her London life, lacks close friends in her new home, and finds that everything, from her neighbors's dress to local pastimes is a world apart from what she knew in London. Culture-shocked, O'Reilly begins writing a blog about her experiences. Those blog entries comprise this book. I'd never read a book comprised of blog entries, but I found that the format worked surprisingly well. Blog entries give the reader a sense that he or she is jumping into the middle of someone else's life, much more so than just about any other format could. And the reader does get a sense of the ins and outs of O'Reilly's life. We read about her relationship with her husband, her son's troubles at school, and O'Reilly's deepest fears about being a good parent. Lest this sound like too much of a downer, I assure you it is not. O'Reilly is humorous, and she's willing to bare her soul on her blog in a pleasantly self-deprecating fashion. Her story is interesting, and I couldn't wait to get to the end to see what they would decide to do at the end of two years (she won't tell you until the epilogue!) Ultimately, this book combines some of the best features of the memoir and the travel narrative, as O'Reilly clearly approaches Northumberland as an outsider, and it's interesting to see how she interprets her experience through the lens of place. The book offers an intimate picture of a family and a marriage, and shows the ways in which people define home. When I got to the epilogue the final decision was what I had anticipated, and it's interesting that O'Reilly's words illustrate the direction the family is headed, even if she could not see so at the time she was writing the blog. Overall, a very enjoyable read.

Blazing a Trail for Blogging Moms

Judith O'Reilly's debut "Wife in the North" is an inspiration for modern mothers grappling with the monumental task of raising offspring in a wholesome environment while mourning for the action-packed life of pre-kid career and city excitement. Expanding her original blog posts, Judith packs up the London house and embarks upon an adventurous family relocation experiment in the coastal wilds of Northumberland. What we don't ever really discover is why SO far north, when Harrogate or York might have been enough of a stretch for most! I suspect Judith's husband may hail from these Northern-most parts, but she manages to keep him pretty much under the radar of her warm and endearingly self-deprecating invitation into her daily life. Particularly of interest to fellow bloggers - Judith raises some intriguing questions as to where to draw the line in posting rants about community figures and institutions. Just when she thinks that no one cares, it seems the whole world is reading her blog.

Wife in the North is laugh-out-loud funny!

In 2005, journalist Judith O'Reilly agrees to move to the north of England with her husband and three young children to sample life in the country. Judith loves London, is a successful journalist and has many friends. Not only is living in the country like being a fish out of water for her, her husband's job takes him frequently back to London for days and weeks at a time, leaving her alone to cope with this strange new life. O'Reilly brilliantly captures the experience and her reaction to it with exquisite imagery. Every woman will identify with her frustration, confusion, anger, sadness and, yes, happiness as they experience the adventure right along with her. At times I laughed out loud and sometimes, I cried or was angry. The book is written in a diary or memo format, so at times, it was difficult to follow. Also, if you aren't British, it is a little confusing figuring our what she's talking about when she uses British phrases. These drawbacks do not take away from the pleasure of immersing yourself in this adventure. Strongly recommended.

Refreshingly Honest

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. I was expecting a light-hearted memoir, but instead got a moving, poignant tale of motherhood. This author has a writing style unlike anything I've read before, and it took me awhile to get used to the cadence and tone of her writing. I struggled with it at first. But once I got attuned to her style, it became a much easier read. Yes, there are moments of hilarity. But there are also many more moments of despair, love, sadness, fear, happiness, belonging. As a mother of 3 boys very near in ages to the author's children, I could completely relate to the author's feelings of frustration, hopelessness, tiredness and yet deep, unending love for her children. The shock near the end was heart-wrenching (despite the fact that it had been hinted at, and I was half-expecting it), and I had real tears falling as I read it. I was quite moved. The descriptions of the northern English countryside and way of life were also very entertaining. I love British books, but so often they are set in London, and so I had never really read about this part of the country. It was a refreshing change. If you are looking for a fluffy, light read, this is not it. But this book is so definitely worth reading - especially if you are a mother - do give it a try. :)