Brilliant and moving feminist narrative. Beautifully and perceptively crafted.

Truthfully, I only bought this book because of the wonderful front cover - a beautiful painting by one of my favourite artists, Chantal Joffe. But, happily, it turns out to be an exceptionally well written novel, too. It's a semi-autobiographical account of a woman's breakdown; the past and present and feared future that helped to create her troubled state of mind, and her difficult path through the pain. Doesn't sound much fun, does it, but there is certainly humour here, and some hope - if only in recognising that any and all of us who get lost from time to time are never truly alone, however much it may feel that way. Yes, this is a woman's story and elements of it can only be experienced by women, but ultimately the deepest, most profound emotions explored here are neither exclusively female or male; they are human. The Pumpkin Eater (and I don't know what that means, by the way - I'll have to look it up), reminded me of two other great novels: Girl, Interrupted, and The Bell Jar. And I rate this work by Penelope Mortimer right up there with those better known novels.

It started off in a way that I was so confused about what I was reading. I am still confused! Nevertheless, I found myself finding it hard to put it down. I understood that she felt trapped in her life and she was depressed but the narrative wasn’t really my cup of tea and for that reason, I think I didn’t really understand it the way I should have.⁣