Those Other Women – Nicola Moriarty

Those Other Women begins with every childfree-by-choice woman’s nightmare: Poppy’s husband decides that he does want children after all, and announces that he’s been having an affair with her clucky (now-former) best friend. Poppy is left high and dry, starting over in her mid-30s while her (now-ex) husband starts a new life filled with baby showers and playdates.

In her search for a new best friend, Poppy finds Annalise, a likeminded firecracker from her office. Together, they decide to start a Facebook group, an alternative to the ever-popular always-growing “Mums Online Paramatta” (which neither of them can join in their search for community as they are, very deliberately and determinedly, non-Mums). They call their new group “Non-Mums Online Paramatta”, just to make it absolutely clear. It’s a direct equivalent, with drinks meet-ups and requests for advice, just for women who have no interest in having children and don’t need to book a babysitter for a night out.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship and a period of rejuvenation in Poppy’s life – but that would make Those Other Women a really boring book. Instead, Moriarty takes us into a suburban jungle of rival factions and unintended consequences.

Poppy has a few too many drinks one night after seeing photos of her ex-husband and ex-best-friend with their newborn. In a blind rage, she posts a challenge to her new Facebook friends: call out the Mum privilege they see in the world around them, and demand equal consideration for non-Mums. By the time Poppy has slept it off, the challenge has taken on a life of its own, and women with prams are being verbally abused in cafes.

All the while, there is an impostor in the group. One of the members of Non-Mums Online Paramatta is, in fact, a mum. She’s infiltrated the group to see what’s being said about her and her Mum friends (and maybe just temporarily escape her life of dirty nappies and constant interruptions). Is it Frankie, Poppy and Annalise’s co-worker who is constantly leaving early to pick her kids up from school? Is it Carla, the member who asked a few too many nosy questions at the last drinks meet up? Is it Lucy, Frankie’s too-good-to-be-true sister, the Perfect Mum? Or is it someone even closer to Poppy, someone who is keeping a dark secret?

The prose isn’t fancy, and the exposition is occasionally a bit heavy-handed, but even so Those Other Women is a strangely addictive read. There’s mysteries and fake identities and hidden motivations all knotted up together, and Moriarty does a good job of teasing them all out.

It does get a bit silly towards the end though, with the denouement coming at a charity gala fundraiser. Just picturing a group of middle-aged women in cocktail attire on a yacht, sailing around Darling Harbour, fighting about who said what in which Facebook group made me cringe.

I think Those Other Women will, surprisingly, ultimately appeal more to mothers than to childfree women. The overall message seems to be “women need to support each other more and judge each other less” – but it’s the women without children who are explicitly taught this, while there’s no equivalent narrative consequences or reminders for Mums to support (and not judge) their childfree comrades.

Read Those Other Women on audiobook via Libro.fm here.

My favourite Amazon reviews of Those Other Women:

• “This book gives women a bad name. Boring, insignificant drivell about two different facebook groups.” – PrettyTeaSets
• “If you like lots of drama and rude people you’ll enjoy it.” – BAG79