The Mummy Diaries : Or How to Lose Your Husband, Children and Dog and Twelve Months

One of the hazards of living in Notting Hill (apart from catfights between alpha mummies in the communal garden) is not so much the smiling Japanese tourists who ask one for directions to the Travel Bookshop, it's the trend for men with working wives to take on more domestic responsibility while they are 'between opportunities' (i.e. laid off from their City jobs). Rachel Johnson's brilliant take on life as a yummy mummy in West London and on Exmoor has been making readers of the Telegraph and the Evening Standard chortle for the last couple of years. Here, running through the social, school and holiday calendar year is a chance to share her favourite treats and pet peeves in all their glory, from the delights of the new puppy and the lost hamster under the floorboards, to the horrors of the school run or of having your duvet removed by the beautician (don't ask). Whatever the weather you can rely on Rachel to be opinionated - whether it's advice on how to be the perfect hostess at the dog's birthday party (arrange pass the pawcel), or whether it's the irritation she feels at the professionalism of the mummies at the school sports day who pitch up in sports bras with little back packs containing high energy drinks and glucose 'power' bars (and that's just for them).