Review: Winging It by Emma Murray
Despite not having children yet, there is something that I love about reading stories of young families and learning what it’s really like to be a struggling mum. I got strong Marian Keyes vibes from this book as soon as I read the synopsis, so I was looking forward to some warmth and laughs.
Saoirse’s husband David has been offered a great job in New York, so together with their five-year-old Anna, they make the move across the Atlantic. But with David busy with work, Saoirse is left to entertain Anna alone while settling into a city that isn’t quite what she hoped it would be. As she starts to feel the strain, it becomes apparent that there’s only one way to deal with these new challenges -wing it.
I was laughing out loud from the start of the book and Saoirse came across as the kind of woman who always seems to find herself in cringey, awkward situations. These are often my favourite kind of heroines and I was really looking forward to see what she was going to get up to next.
Anna was another great source of humour and I thought she was a really delightful kid. New York doesn’t seem to have phased her as much as it has her mother and I was often in awe of how well she seemed to be adjusting to her new life. I think I would have loved a version of this book from her perspective as she has a wonderful mind and I’d have loved to take a closer look at it.
Winging It does feature serious topics too and Saoirse does start to spiral into a dark mental health hole. This was very similar to what happened to me during last year’s relentless lockdowns, so the fear of the outside felt very fresh to me. I’d never suffered from agoraphobia before but somehow the fact I’d spent weeks inside caused me to develop an intense phobia. I knew that Saoirse would find her way out of it, as I did, but I thought Emma Murray did an amazing job of describing exactly what those high emotions feel like.
It also visits themes of infertility, loneliness and fear of not living up to expectations. The narrative takes a turn around halfway through and we’re introduced to a new set of characters, who prompt the uncovering of family secrets. My heart broke as I learned more about these stories and I was willing them to sort out their tensions. The discussion of the shame that some women feel after going through miscarriage or infertility is a topic that is still not spoken about much. There is still the assumption that women will have children at some point in their lives and when they don’t, the questions come without any consideration as to what they could have been through. I really appreciated this issue being brought to light.
I think my favourite parts of the book were the PTA meetings and events that Saoirse inexplicably finds herself at. At the beginning of the book, she couldn’t be further from a typical London PTA mum but in New York, she is fully embraced by the healthy, thriving group of dedicated women. There is no drama or politics and I loved that Saoirse was finally able to find her mum tribe.
Winging It is a heartwarming, funny book featuring an intercontinental adventure, plenty of parenting joys and woes and wonderful female friendship. It’s a light, easy read for the most part with a few twists thrown in to keep you on your toes and a cast of loveable characters.
