The book was written for a British audience, so non-Brits will be bewildered by mysterious name brands used to describe common generic items like syrup and hairspray (I think), store names you've never heard of that that are evidently supposed to convey something about the people who shop there (?), and references to television shows that never made it across the big pond. She never uses that generic term we'd all understand when a British brand name will suffice. English colloquialisms also permeate the prose as well as the dialog, so I found some of it hard to decipher. That was my complaint about the writing style; the author made no attempt to engage an international audience.

You also have to suspend disbelief in order to swallow the story. Nevertheless, it's a good, light read with a surprise ending that reveals the true villains after leading you to despise other characters. I enjoyed it.

From the cover: It is Christmas Eve at 14 Camberley Road, north London. The Townsend children have hung up the last strand of tinsel and now, in the firelight, all is softly aglow with the magic and mystery of Christmas...

And then - oh no! - their mother staggers home. Caroline Townsend, ex-beauty, failed actress, divorcee and almost-alcoholic is fighting drunk (as usual) and has just been jilted by her lover. Will Christmas be doomed again this year? It's time for desperate measures.

Twelve-year-old Vanessa, with her four younger siblings, ceremoniously lock their stupefied parent in the basement sauna. Her period of custody as yet unspecified, the prisoner's task is to become a proper mother again.

Wildly funny, completely original and full of insights about marriage, adolescence and the lethal defences we all use to hide our needy selves, Mothertime is worth a decade of psychotherapy - and is far more entertaining.