- Lorraine Candy

‘Mum, What’s Wrong with You?’: 101 Things Only Mothers of Teenage Girls Know

By Lorraine Candy
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Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller

‘The mothering manual we all need’ Claudia Winkleman

Mums: are you feeling lonely, confused or worried? Are you panicking that maybe you’re getting everything wrong? Does it, in the words of Lorraine Candy’s own teenage daughter, ‘suck to be you’ (Mum) right now?

Welcome to the most challenging part of your parenting journey: the teenage years.

It was all going so well and then, out of the blue, the little girl you love to the moon and back turned into an irrational, fire-breathing dragon. She lives in a messy pit of wet towels and sticky mugs, hoarding other people’s phone chargers and eyebrow tweezers, while rudely rejecting maternal intervention or affection.

Do not worry. You’re not alone. Parenting columnist Lorraine Candy, a mum of four (including three teens), is here to help. Her warm and witty family memoir will lead you to a more harmonious parenting place. Alongside a wealth of hilarious personal anecdotes, Candy offers you useful, easy-to-follow, well-researched guidance from experts.

This is a survivor’s guide for mums. This book will help you connect with your daughter and feel good about your mothering as you raise the bright and brilliant young women of tomorrow.

Format: Hardback
Release Date: 10 Jun 2021
Pages: 288
ISBN: 978-0-00-840721-6
Lorraine Candy is a mother of four and an award-winning journalist with over a decade of experience writing about parenting in national newspapers and magazines, including columns with the Sunday Times Magazine and Daily Mail. She is also the co-host of the chart-topping lifestyle podcast Postcards from Midlife, which features the stories of spirited midlife women and tackles parenting adolescents. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Sunday Times Style, ELLE and Cosmopolitan, she is now focusing full-time on writing. Lorraine is a keen open-water swimmer and dog lover and grew up in Cornwall.

”'The mothering manual we all need” - Claudia Winkleman

”'Parenting is a massive tsunami of inadequacy. This book is a gentle, supportive hand to help us ride that tsunami, both personal and objective. I found it deeply comforting” - Davina McCall

”'This book is for all mums of teenage girls who are still standing despite the daily takedowns, the hourly scrutiny of our various failings and the moment-by-moment dissection of our useless boomer existence. It will make you want to run into the street shouting 'See? It's not me - it's HER!'” - Jackie Clune