Friday, June 29, 2018

"Those Other Women"

Nicola Moriarty is a Sydney-based novelist, copywriter and mum to two small (but remarkably strong-willed) daughters. In between various career changes, becoming a mum and completing her Bachelor of Arts, she began to write. Now she can’t seem to stop. Her previous works include the novel, The Fifth Letter, which was published in several countries and optioned by Universal Cable Productions for film and television.

Moriarty applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Those Other Women, and reported the following:
From page 69:
Later that night Poppy posted on NOP.

Anyone else have trouble convincing friends or family that you don’t ever want to have kids? My mother is driving me up the wall. It doesn’t seem to matter what I say or how many times I say it – she’s certain I’m lying or that I’m in denial or whatever. Any tips on how to make her understand once and for all would be greatly appreciated!

Within seconds Facebook notified Poppy that several people had already commented on her post.

Nicole – Have the same exact issue with my little sister. She has two of her own and every time I’m around her and the kids I catch her looking at me with these guilty puppy-dog eyes, like she feels terrible for beating me to it. As if procreation is a race that’s supposed to be won. Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to make her understand that she has no reason to feel sorry for me cause I’m actually perfectly happy.

Marns – For me my family got it straightaway. They were like, oh yeah, you never were a kid person, even when you were a kid! So I can’t really help you but I get it must suck.
I always find it fascinating to read a page from one of my books completely out of context and see how it sounds in isolation. In this case, I think this small section from page 69 represents Those Other Women almost perfectly! Those Other Women tells the story of Poppy, a woman who is child-free by choice and decides to start up a Facebook group in order to connect with other like-minded women. That’s why this excerpt from page 69 is so perfect, it includes one of Poppy’s posts to this group and sums up one of the driving forces behind Poppy’s desire to have this group in the first place – she’s fed up with her family pressuring her to conform to the societal expectations that all woman must want children. Of course, at the same time there’s plenty more that happens in the book – there’s Annalise, Poppy’s new friend who’s keeping secrets about her past, Frankie, the mum at her work who has her own story to share and then there’s the imposter, the person within the new Facebook group who isn’t who she says she is!
Visit Nicola Moriarty's website.

--Marshal Zeringue