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Original poster

Please help me find this book I borrowed from the library in 1990!

115 replies

FantasticButtocks · 14/12/2022 18:03

Not much to go on, sorry...
It had a brightish blue cover.
No idea of author or title, but either the husband or the baby was called Stephen/Steven, think it might actually have been the baby. Don't think the marriage was great. The mother suffers with intense loneliness and depression pnd after the birth, husband not very supportive or maybe doesn't understand... but eventually she finds something that interests her, can't remember what, maybe she starts to study, and starts to feel more human again. She starts going out and about with the pram, and also getting into her subject, she sometimes reads on a bench in the park. One day when she's doing this, very absorbed, the unthinkable happens and her child drowns in the pond.
She blames herself. Her husband blames her.

Very grim and sad, I read it when I'd just given birth to my first child Sad
I've looked for it often, without success and I'd be so grateful if anyone recognises it.
Thanks Smile

OP posts:
magimedi · 18/12/2022 16:02

You will come back & tell us if you find it, won't you?

LittleBearPad · 18/12/2022 16:00

Was it Danielle Steel?

takeitonthegin · 18/12/2022 16:00

Sorry, scrap that it's saying the release date was in the 2000's, I thought it had been released in the 90s and re-released in 2000s. Also the child is called Paul. Sorry. Hope you find it though.

takeitonthegin · 18/12/2022 15:56

Annie Murray - Mother & Child? Not sure if this has been suggested. I hope you find it OP.

Bobbybobbins · 18/12/2022 15:43

Some more details may come back to you. I wanted to find a book I read in the 90s and took ages but more retails started drifting to the top of my memory and I eventually found it.

Ukholidaysaregreat · 18/12/2022 15:36

Aww! Your OP has made me remember reading the very first call the midwife just after I had, had my first. I was so sad reading about the women who had to go to the work house and was split up from her children and they all died one by one. I was howling reading her story. So sad. I know someone who was a child in the work house and on a Sunday they would be lined up to wave at their mother's and the mothers would be lined up in their own building to wave and that was the only time they saw each other all week. Horrific. Hope you find your book OP.

FinallyFluid · 18/12/2022 15:26

Oh how I wish I had never clicked on this thread. 🙄Grin

Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 15:21

theblackradiator · 18/12/2022 14:56

I'm no help sorry but i really hope you find this book. I had a similar struggle to find a film I had watched roughly the same time 1990ish. I also posted on mumsnet for help and I did find the film. it was an Australian film just released on video In the UK. I've been unable to rewatch the film as its no longer available anywhere but I did find a big write up about it online. was good to finally find it. Good luck with your search.

What was the film?

OP posts:
Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 15:20

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/12/2022 14:33

If you don’t get any joy here, @FantasticButtocks, try the forums on Abebooks - they are excellent at tracking down books from the smallest clues.

Will do, thank you 😊

OP posts:
theblackradiator · 18/12/2022 14:56

I'm no help sorry but i really hope you find this book. I had a similar struggle to find a film I had watched roughly the same time 1990ish. I also posted on mumsnet for help and I did find the film. it was an Australian film just released on video In the UK. I've been unable to rewatch the film as its no longer available anywhere but I did find a big write up about it online. was good to finally find it. Good luck with your search.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/12/2022 14:33

If you don’t get any joy here, @FantasticButtocks, try the forums on Abebooks - they are excellent at tracking down books from the smallest clues.

Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 14:31

Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:20

… has anyone said The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin?

Not that one, I'm almost certain she only had the one child!

OP posts:
Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 14:30

Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:19

Wait wait wait just opened this I might know it - pnd 3rd child does she have a lodger??

lokking it up on kindle now is prob wrong one

Not third child. Only child

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Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 14:30

Featheryboa · 18/12/2022 13:15

Was it an aga saga or similar?
Asking because 1990 was very much peak aga saga time.

Definitely not an aga saga, bit more literary...

OP posts:
Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 14:29

Communionmom · 18/12/2022 11:32

OP as it was so long ago, do you think you might be mixing up books a bit? Because I’ve done that. Gone searching for a book only to find I remembered bits of one book and bits of another book but in my memory they were the same book.

Or thinking a characters name was X when in fact that was the name of the character in the tv show I watched around the same time.

Especially if you’re sleep deprived with a new baby.

I don't think I am, but it was more than 30 years ago... but the memory is pretty specific and I've wanted to find it for years!!

OP posts:
Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:23

Oh sorry someone HAS suggested that! Sorry! I was so excited to know something, anything, that i flicked through and couldn't spot it.

STAND DOWN.

Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:22

www.amazon.co.uk/Hours-Before-Dawn-Celia-Fremlin/dp/0571338127/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17BGVVNT7C9K5&keywords=THE+HOURS+BEFORE+DAWN&qid=1671369679&sprefix=the+hours+before+dawn%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1

If that's not the right one, then it's definitely a good miserable suspense for you you lovely ghoulish festive vipers. pure terrifying misery.

Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:20

… has anyone said The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin?

Nepoyeah · 18/12/2022 13:19

Wait wait wait just opened this I might know it - pnd 3rd child does she have a lodger??

lokking it up on kindle now is prob wrong one

Featheryboa · 18/12/2022 13:15

Was it an aga saga or similar?
Asking because 1990 was very much peak aga saga time.

Communionmom · 18/12/2022 11:32

OP as it was so long ago, do you think you might be mixing up books a bit? Because I’ve done that. Gone searching for a book only to find I remembered bits of one book and bits of another book but in my memory they were the same book.

Or thinking a characters name was X when in fact that was the name of the character in the tv show I watched around the same time.

Especially if you’re sleep deprived with a new baby.

Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 18/12/2022 11:22

TheSuperbOwl · 18/12/2022 09:14

This sounds so familiar. Was it adapted as a television series a few years ago do you know?

Not that I know of.

OP posts:
TheSuperbOwl · 18/12/2022 09:14

This sounds so familiar. Was it adapted as a television series a few years ago do you know?

Original poster
FantasticButtocks · 17/12/2022 21:50

InSummertime · 17/12/2022 18:51

I don’t have any other suggestions and I’ve googled for you! I’m invested and I want to read it.

Thank you 🙏 let's hope someone comes along who has read it and recognises it

OP posts: