The School Gate Survival Guide also published as The Not So Perfect Mum

When mum of two Maia Etxeleku isn’t skivvying after her partner Colin, she earns a living cleaning the homes of “posh” women. All she wants is a better life for her kids, which is exactly what happens when she receives a major inheritance with strings attached. Soon Maia has to navigate a middle class world of power & privilege – with hilarious results! Can Maia overcome the snobbery of a suburban middle class mafia who wouldn’t be seen dead in a Poundland store?

Paperback: 368 Pages

Language: English

Format: Kindle Edition (Kindle Unlimited), Audiobook, Hardcover, & Paperback

4.5/5
Reviewed By Juliette Foster
“Kerry Fisher is a deliciously wicked observer of class and the absurdities of snobbery.”

GENTRIFICATION

When she’s not skivvying after Colin, her workshy slob of a partner, mother of two Maia Etxeleku earns a living cleaning the houses of “posh women” for whom a full-on day is the morning school run, lunch with “the girls” and getting their highlights touched up at the hairdresser. Maia doesn’t envy them, but she does want a better life for her two kids although she’s not quite sure how to go about getting it. When a dead client leaves her an unusual inheritance with a couple of strings attached, Maia is suddenly catapulted into a middle class world of Kumon math classes, organic food, and a culture where kids are groomed for Oxbridge from the moment they learn to walk!

Can Maia navigate the pressures of working class life against a middle class mafia who wouldn’t be seen dead in a Poundland store, and for whom instant coffee is an absolute no, no when only “arpeggio, livanto, capriccio, espresso, vivalto or finezzo” will do? The School Gate Survival Guide, the sparkling novel by Kerry Fisher, is a delicious comedy of manners that will leave you howling with laughter at the snobbery and jaw dropping pretentiousness of the middle classes in the green belt.

Reviewed by Juliette Foster

© Archant Community Media Limited used under limited licence

Click the covers to find out about other books by author Kerry Fisher. The School Gate Survival Guide is also published as The Not So Perfect Mum.

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