April book of the month: The Cows by Dawn O'Porter. Read the book and join the author webchat on Weds 25 April, 9pm

[RachelMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce our April book of the month is Dawn O'Porter's novel The Cows.

The Cows is columnist and TV presenter Dawn O'Porter's first foray into adult literature. Her YA novels Paper Aeroplanes and Goose received praise from critics for her humour and ability to capture the very essence of adolescent life. In The Cows, Dawn O'Porter captures the lives of millennials with the same vigour and humour. It's a fearless novel about female friendship, motherhood and finding your own voice in a world where it's often the social norm to follow the herd.

Find out more about the novel, read or listen to the first chapter and find read the Mumsnet bloggers' reviews. Buy a copy of the book and join us on Weds 25th April when you'll have the chance to chat to the author during our author webchat with Dawn O'Porter.

[cakeforme]

Just ordered! Still on march’s book though

[SallySwann]

Looking forward to it

[Clawdy]

Wish we could still apply for a free book though, I really miss those days!

[VileyRose]

Read this on our drive to Scotland

[GeekyWombat]

I miss the free books too - although that said pleased to find this was only £1.99 on Kindle. Bargain!

[Mytrustybucket1]

Read it and loved it!

[Millipedewithherfeetup]

Downloaded to kindle and reading now...not far in but so far so good !

[halfgirlhalfturnip]

Great - loved it!

[NapQueen]

Read this book when it first came out and loved it. Its been passed around the family and friends too who all enjoyed it.

[Millipedewithherfeetup]

Have now finished reading I really enjoyed it it was funny in places and had me squirming for some of the characters involved. It's a well written book.

[NapQueen]

Theres something happens to one of the characters towards the back end of the book which genuinely shocked me. Completely blindsided.

[GinandGingerBeer]

Me too NapQueen! My mouth dropped to the floor for several minutes!
I loved this book. Do get it on audio version if you can as it's narrated really well.

[balljuggla]

Have also started reading, it's brill. Makes me want to check out her YA stuff too even though that's not a genre I normally go for.

[VileyRose]

I didn't enjoy it. The characters felt empty :(

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

I'm about a third of the way through and really not sure what to make of it partly because I'm quite prudish!

My local library has several copies so worth a look if you don't want to buy it.

[FernieB]

Just finished it today. Napqueen - that event threw me too! Very sudden and completely unexpected. I would have liked to have known more about the reaction of a certain other person to that event (trying not to give anything away), but felt it was well dealt with.

Vileyrose - i can understand what you mean about the characters feeling 'empty'. I felt they were all very single-minded and each woman seemed to just have one purpose in the narrative, so possibly weren't as well-rounded as characters as they could have been. However, as the book was narrative driven rather than character driven, I didn't feel anything was lacking in terms of character.

I enjoyed the book very much. It was witty, well-written and moved along at a good pace. It's scary to think how lives can be ruined by the internet, particularly how vicious people can be when hiding safely behind usernames!

[PavlovaPrincess]

Just finished this today. Started it expecting to hate it but actually raced through it in a couple of days.

I will say that Tara is just a vile human being and not some kind of feminist heroine.

[RachelMumsnet]

Just to remind you that Dawn O'Porter is joining us on Wednesday (25th) April between 9 and 10pm on this thread to answer your questions about The Cows. Everyone who joins the discussion will be entered into a draw to win of 10 copies of next month's book of the month The Awkward Age by Francesca Segal.

If you're unable to join us on Wednesday evening, post up a questions in advance for Dawn on this thread.

[Ritzsaltedcrackers]

I didn’t really enjoy it. I thought the scene which led to Tara’s humiliation was utterly unbelievable. No one would do that on a tube carriage. No one normal, anyway. It was hard to empathise with her. And Cam was insufferable. Again, it was impossible to believe that her vacuous self centred ramblings would attract such a following.

[FernieB]

Ritz - I agree about Tara's actions. Who would do that? Also, I did find it odd that no charges were brought against her. If that was a man, he'd have been charged with indecent exposure and the same women who defended Tara would have been attacking him through the media.

[Ritzsaltedcrackers]

Yes, if a man had done that he’d have been charged. And rightly so!

[PavlovaPrincess]

I agree @Ritzsaltedcrackers Tara's excuse was she thought she was alone in the carriage.

Not sure how alone you can reasonably expect to be in a public place though. There would have been no excuses for a man caught doing that.

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

It made me physically uncomfortable. And I think it all worked out rather too neatly. E.g. Cam and her mum - years of tension resolved with one talk?!

But I'm glad I finished it as it's good to get out of one's comfort zone every now and then. I was mainly intrigued to see which event NapQueen and FernieB were talking about, so thank you for spurring me on

My question for Dawn is, the three main characters are quite different - do you have a favourite, or one that you identify with most?

[Helmetbymidnight]

Really enjoyed it- loved the strong messages about female solidarity and speaking out. A really positive and modern fable.

Gosh I didn't find Tara a vile human at all- I liked her v much- I found her mistake uncomfortable reading- had to cover my eyes - but it spoke a lot about Internet culture/shaming and bullying. One moments stupidity = life time of insults.

I'm so glad she and Jason got together.

[Helmetbymidnight]

Ok, a question for dawn:

I'm interested in books about female friendships- actually started a thread on here bout them somewhere- we got: the elena ferente novels, three things about Elsie, the animateurs, not much else, do you have any recommendations on that subject- or any in general?

I was glad that while there was some romance/happy ending it's not all about that- is that a deliberate choice and have you ever been encouraged to end/edit differently?

Also, what are you writing next?