A smart, laugh-out-loud debut novel about a deeply flawed but endearing stay-at-home mom, a book for anyone who took Bridget Jones to heart a decade ago-and now has kids.

Lucy Sweeney has three sons, a husband on a short fuse, and a tendency toward domestic disaster. It has been years since the dirty laundry pile was less than three feet high, months since she remembered to have sex, and weeks since her toddler started using the trash can as a toilet. Lucy is living in a constant state of emergency, caught between perfectionist Yummy Mummy No. 1 and competitive Alpha Mum, making it hard for her to remember exactly why she exchanged her career and sanity for less than blissful domesticity.

When she begins a flirtation with Sexy Domesticated Dad, a father from the school car-pool lane, the string of white lies to cover up the trail of chaos and illicit desire starts to unravel and disaster looms.

Slummy Mummy: The Secret Life of Lucy Sweeney is a hilarious novel about the dilemmas of modern marriage and motherhood for those who never discovered their inner domestic goddess. Pitch-perfect and satisfyingly smart, it does for the stay-at-home mother what Allison Pearson's blockbuster bestseller I Don't Know How She Does It did for the working mom: It offers a lovable, flawed character who resonates, entertains, and undoubtedly has it worse than you do.

Six Weeks (currently) on the London Times Bestsellers List

Author:

Fiona Neill is a features writer for the London Times Magazine in which her wildly popular weekly "Slummy Mummy" column appears. Previously she was the features editor for Marie Claire and an assistant editor of the London Times Magazine.

Narrator:

Katherine Kellgren has appeared onstage in London, New York and Frankfurt. Her recent work includes everything from the role of Laura in a regional production of The Glass Menagerie, to appearances on Comedy Central. She has recorded numerous plays and dramatizations of novels for the radio, including winners of the AudioFile Earphones Award and the Peabody Award. She is a graduate of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Reviews:

Anna Wintour, Editor, Vogue Magazine
"Hilarious... a literary phenomenon to rival Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It... [Neill] plays with the chaos and comedy of 30-something metropolitan maternity and brings it to an unexpectedly moving conclusion."

Booklist
"Reading in a British accent, Kellgren keeps the tone lighthearted and fun, despite the catastrophes that constantly loom around Lucy. Listeners are sure to laugh along and connect with the harried mom, especially when Kellgren lowers and softens her pitch to express Lucy's inner thoughts. Lucy's sons sound sweetly meek and innocent, and the adult males speak in confident, bold tones. For fans of Bridget Jones' Diary and "mommy-lit" titles."

The London Times
"Slummy Mummy is several cuts above the rest... the writing is witty, observant, and supremely intelligent... beneath all the comedy is a serious look at the work/home conflict at the heart of modern motherhood."

In Style
"Get your hands on a copy of [this] debut novel. The chaotic tale of the hapless Lucy will strike a chord with any woman who hasn't quite mastered the art of being a domestic goddess."

The Daily Telegraph
"Neill's hilarious depiction of the manifold daily perils of stay-at-home motherhood is so convincing that it soon looks like the most challenging job in the world - and Lucy is all the more sympathetic simply for staying afloat."

Author