Combining page-turning psychological thrills with trenchant social comment, Baker's intensely dark and utterly compelling chiller centres on a child-stealing woman and the 'unfit mother' subsequently demonised by the media.
Call me Mummy. It'll be better if you do.
Glamorous, beautiful Mummy has everything a woman could want. Except for a daughter of her very own. So when she sees Kim - heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop - she does what anyone would do. She takes her. But foul-mouthed little Tonya is not the daughter that Mummy was hoping for.
As Tonya fiercely resists Mummy's attempts to make her into the perfect child, Kim is demonised by the media as a 'scummy mummy', who deserves to have her other children taken too. Haunted by memories of her own childhood and refusing to play by the media's rules, Kim begins to spiral, turning on those who love her. Though they are worlds apart, Mummy and Kim have more in common than they could possibly imagine. But it is five-year-old Tonya who is caught in the middle...
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781788165242
Number of pages: 384
Weight: 262 g
Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 28 mm
Edition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
I loved [this] book. It's very dark, heartbreaking and totally absorbing - Lorraine Kelly
Horrifying and beautiful in equal measure, the characters truly lifelike in their all too human complexities. Brilliantly written and emotionally compulsive. I loved it - Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of BLOOD ORANGE
A powerful and thought-provoking page turner. The definition of unputdownable - Katerina Diamond, author of THE HEATWAVE
It's brilliant. I had to read the last half of it all in one go as I couldn't put it down - Eddie Mair, LBC Radio
Utterly absorbing - I loved everything about this book, but especially the deeply flawed, brilliantly drawn protagonists. Such an imaginative premise and so brilliantly done - Catherine Cooper, author of THE CHALET
Psychologically twisty and utterly gripping - a novel to make you question the way things appear at first sight - Lisa Hall, author of THE PERFECT COUPLE
I rattled through Call Me Mummy, biting my nails the entire time. Tense and gripping, these characters will stay with me for a long time - Alice Clark-Platts, author of THE FLOWER GIRLS
Call Me Mummy is a twisty, heartbreaking thriller... [a] searing debut - Best Magazine
Another must-read is Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker, a darkly comic thriller about two women who are worlds apart - until one steals the other one's child - Waitrose Magazine
A powerful, dark and bleak novel with broken characters that really got under my skin. Absorbing, gritty and very real - Mel Sherratt, author of TICK TOCK
Disturbing, distinctive, and peppered with black humour, this is a book I couldn't put down. If you like your fiction dark and compelling, you'll love Call Me Mummy - Amanda Jennings, author of THE STORM
Superb. What a dark, troubling and beautifully written book. And it's threaded with a strand of bleak uncompromising humour which catches the reader off guard at the most unexpected moments. Read it! - Kate Griffin, author of KITTY PECK AND THE MUSIC HALL MURDERS
Bleak but totally compelling and peppered with dark humour. Tense, twisted and totally unputdownable. Shocking and brilliant - SJI Holliday, author of VIOLET
A deliciously dark, emotionally truthful, sucker punch of a novel. Creepy, twisty and all too credible. A stunning debut - Paul Burston, author of THE CLOSER I GET
An astonishing debut. Beautifully written, but also raw and uncompromising, this is a gut-punch of a novel - David Jackson, author of THE RESIDENT
A peerlessly original thriller, pushing at the sore edges of motherhood and childlessness. I read it with my free hand over my mouth and my heart in knots. Spectacular - Kate Simants, author of LOCK ME IN
From the first to the last page I was hooked. The writing is flawless, and the characters are so realistically portrayed I felt I knew both women. I absolutely loved it - Louise Mullins, author of I KNOW YOU
Brilliant. A thriller so tense you dare not look away until the final page - Janice Hallett, author of THE APPEAL
I love these kinds of thrillers that touch on mental health, dark deep secrets and harrowing, tormented characters. A fast-paced thrilling read [with] a spectacular ending - J.A. Andrews, author of YOU LET HIM IN
Utterly exceptional. Haunting, harrowing and very dark - Victoria Selman, author of SNAKES AND LADDERS
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