The Trials of Isabella M Smugge
Life in the country isn’t going as Issy Smugge planned it. However, the woman Gorgeous Home magazine once called ‘Britain’s Most Relatable Mum Designer’ is nothing if not resilient!
With an unexpected baby on the way, a good-for-nothing husband and a mother who never seemed to care but now needs caring for, her hands are full. Her venal agent and creative socials guru keep work fizzing, but how will she cope with the mysterious village snitch and poisonous gossip columnist Lavinia Harcourt?
Discovering others’ problems can be far worse than her own, she confronts bizarre church sub-culture and braces herself to use the NHS, rethinking all she thought she wanted. Could true happiness be just a few hashtags away?
Ruth Leigh's second novel charting famous blogger and 'Mumstaggrammer' Isabella M Smugge's rocky journey towards self-awareness didn't disappoint me. In fact, I think this sequel to 'The diary of Isabella M Smugge' has even more depth and shade. There are plenty of LOL lines - she asks a friend if there's a forgiveness app in the same way there's a Couch to 5K app for runners, and wonders whether baby Milo has a drink problem, he feeds so often. They are three examples among many others. The hashtags provide some laughs, too - #inyourfaceharcourt made me smile. But, alongside the laughs, there is a deepening realisation for Isabella that honesty and authenticity win over pretence and posing, and this journey is also very satisfying to follow. I kept turning the pages to find out whether Isabella manages to deal with Lavinia Harcourt's snidey attacks on her, whether she really is that blind to Johnnie's faults and whether her mother finally softens and becomes what Isabella needs. I like the way the book ends - this time without the enormous cliffhanger but with plenty of potential for further adventures and epiphanies in Book 3! Author Fran Hill
I'll be honest, I rarely read books anymore - never the time to be too bogged down in something heavy or waste my time on something too light - but I read Ruth's books because the writing is so brilliant and so entertaining and the level is exactly right if you just want a damn good read! Hilarious, compelling and thoroughly absorbing - can't wait for the next one! Justine de Mierre
Ruth Leigh has continued to enthral us again with the second book. The trials of Isabella M Smugge is captivating. Insight and humour run throughout the book. I can honestly say if Austen was writing in the 21st Century, she might have created Issy Smugge. Steph Lewis