“THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR” by Sally Hepworth

The book written by Sally Hepworth, “THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR,” was made into a TV series, and Tara Palmer, whom I like a lot, is one of the actresses playing a character.
Sally Hepworth wrote about the struggles faced by young women who become mothers, and they must compete not only with their close friends but also with young mothers on social media.

Essie, Ange, and Fran are young mothers who live in a beautiful residential complex of houses. Each of them has two children of various ages, and they seem to be good friends.

Essie’s reality:
“Essie shoved her fingers deep into her ears. It was strange watching Mia scream and not being able to hear it. After a while, Essie started for home.
– Where’s Mia?
– I … left her. At the park.
It had taken months–and a stint as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital–for Essie to recover after leaving Mia in the park that day, and her doctor explained that after last time, her chances of her postpartum depression recurring were significant. But Essie did recover. And she wanted a second chance to be the mother she’d planned to be from the get-go.”

Essie’s thoughts about Fran:
“Fran was the image of the person you wanted to be. She and her husband were intellectuals, the type who sat around discussing highbrow topics like religion and politics and art.”

Fran’s reality:
“Fran wondered is she was all right. For months she’d lived with this feeling that any moment her whole world could unravel. Usually it hoovered around the edges of her consciousness, where she could run it away–if she ran fast enough–but every now and then it came to the surface, where it was impossible to ignore. She felt tears begin to well, which was not like her. She’d never been a crier.”

Essie’s thoughts about Ange:
“It wasn’t hard to understand why people bought houses from Ange. She had everything together. She was married to a sickeningly handsome man; seemed to be making a heap of money in her business. That was the thing about Ange. She didn’t just sell houses. She sold the life you wanted to lead.”

Ange’s reality:
“Sometimes Ange wondered if she had a phone addiction. With each minute that passed without checking her phone, the more uncomfortable she became. Five new Instagram comments. Twenty-seven new Facebook likes? Nirvana. She’d got her hit.
As far as she was concerned, social media was a place for witty, satirical comments; stylistic food pics, photos of beautiful homes and children.
Don’t write open letters to your children/husband/parents about how much you love them, she wanted to cry. It’s vomit inducing! Don’t post about how many kilometers you’ve run today, it’s boring, not to mention braggy.
Social media was a place to scroll through to get an idea of where you fared in the world, and figure out whether you were winning or losing at life. Sometimes it felt like she was the only one who understood this. 
She looked down at the chopping board where the fish fillets lay bare. She seasoned them with a little salt and pepper and positioned a wedge of lemon to the side. Then she took a photo, which she posted on Instagram.
Nothing better than a healthy delicious dinner with my men, she captioned it. #fish#family#yum.“

Kindle, 2019