The Stepmothers’ Support Group

You can’t choose your family – but you can choose your friends… A heartfelt, warm and truthful novel about female friendship.

Eve has never imagined herself as a stepmother. But when she falls in love with Ian, he comes with a ready-made family of three children. And, to make matters worse, he's a widower. The ghost of his glamorous and well known wife haunts them.

Clare, a teacher and single mother, is Eve's best friend. She is the only person Eve can talk to about how on earth a journalist in her thirties can win round three wary children. But despite Clare's years of practice with her own teenage daughter, it's Lily ,her younger sister, who provides the truly sympathetic ear.

Mel is sent along to Eve's so-called 'support group' by a colleague. With a fledgling relationship and a new business to get off the ground, she has a very different set of pressures to the other women.

And Mandy is the stay-at-home mum, whose relationship comes with stepchildren, and who wants more than anything to stitch together a happy family life for herself, her kids and her new step-kids.

As a cup of coffee turns to a bottle of wine and the get-togethers become a regular fixture, conversations about new families evolve into ones about relationships, life and each woman’s deepest hopes and dreams. But the friendship is tested and feelings about lovers, husbands and step-children challenged when the five women are forced to confront new futures as well as unwelcome figures from the past…

Reviews

'Sometimes, a book can be such a brilliant idea you can't believe no one has done it before… Stepmothers, stepfathers, stepchildren: all will find amusement and comfort in its pages.' Nigella Lawson

'This funny, touching novel by Red's editor is The First Wives Club meets Sex And The City – with stepchildren… Fast paced and unexpectedly moving.' Red

'The narrative is well thought out with a great plot and likeable characters. Writing from the point of view of the Wicked Stepmother makes for an interesting and different read.' Daily Mail

'In this feisty female-support fiction, each of her group of five women – Eve, Clare, Mel, Mandy and Chloe – has her own way of managing the complexities of 21st-century family life – living with the ghosts of dead wives, looking after the little ones, and nursing the big ones' egos.' Good Housekeeping

'This hilarious novel addresses an inevitable question for step-parents: what if you din't get on with your partner's children?' Hot Stars (OK!)

'A great read with characters you can sympathise with.' Woman

About the author

Sam Baker grew up in Hampshire and after a degree in politics at Birmingham University became a journalist, going on to edit some of the UK's biggest magazines. For six years she was Editor in Chief of Red magazine, where she set up the Red Hot Women Awards recognising achievement across politics, science, tech, the arts, media and charity, as well as championing support for Refuge, the charity for victims of domestic abuse.

In 2015 she co-founded and launched The Pool with Lauren Laverne, the online platform that makes inspiring and original content for busy women.

Sam is married to the novelist Jon Courtenay Grimwood and lives in Winchester. When she’s not working or writing she escapes by devouring crime novels or watching box sets.