Timing is everything. Amazingly, just as Executive Moms has come into being, it seems “working moms” have become (if not for the first time) the “it” topic of the moment.

Spurring much of the discussion– Allison Pearson’s new novel: “I Don’t Know How She Does it”

(And for those at Tuesday’s luncheon, you now have your own audio-CD of it, compliments of Random House)! Arriving by storm from the UK, it is being trumpeted as the “Bridget Jones’ Diary” of this year, only in this novel, “Bridget” is a character named Kate Reddy, and she’s married, has two kids– AND a high-pressured job at an investment bank.

So here we are, I thought, with OUR book (finally)! Upon reading the opening scene in which Kate is up in the middle of the night, pounding imperfections into a store-bought pie to make it look homemade like a “good mother,” not a mother “who didn’t make the effort” would make, I thought: “Yes! Our new poster child, our new heroine, our new icon!” Pearson is masterful with clever and relatable turns of phrase, like descibing a working mother’s exhaustion as “deep-sea-diver tiredness.” She is acerbic: You can’t buy their love,’ says my mother-in-law, who obviously never threw enough cash at the problem.” And alternatively poignant: “The mother of a one-year-old boy is a movie star in a world without critics.”

Though we Executive Moms might feel more ambiguous about Kate than one might think.

Let’s just say that if you’re looking for a complete celebration of the juggling act we do– this isn’t exactly it. In fact, without giving too much away, the ending may make you wonder if Kate is indeed our new poster child after all…

Regardless, the book is sparking a lot of conversation and debate (three articles in last Sunday’s NY Times alone). And that alone makes it a good thing.

Now give it a read (or a listen) and stay tuned for the debut of the “Chat, Vent, Learn” section on www.executivemoms.com so you can tell us what YOU think!

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Sincerely,

Executive Moms