The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller: An effective satire is always one that exposes the 
truth and full credit goes to Geller who manipulated a variety of comic devices to reveal the horrifically lonely and judgemental job that has become 21st Century motherhood – particularly if pregnancy occurs at a mature age and particularly when your family treat you like a food providing door mat.
In a very kind of ‘when it rains it pours’ type fashion, Bells Walker receives some life changing information; a seriously unplanned pregnancy and the likelihood that she will have to move to upstate New York as a result of her husband Harry’s failed tenure application at the university. Bells literally stares down the barrel of a bizarre mid-life crisis gun of sorts, wherein her identity is completely consumed by the various roles she plays; wife, mother, daughter and thus, when she arrives in Pigskil, she pulls the trigger on her quite rational desire to be her own person. Having had to give up her newspaper column in New York City, Bells does her best to apply to the local paper in Pigskill and literally gets slapped in the face with the cold fish of rejection.
In an ironic twist, Bells is encouraged to leave the new house and get involved in the community by Harry (who is clearly ignorant to her morning sickness and the fact that unpacking a whole house by yourself when vomiting every other minute must be a super treat,) and for no good reason, she lands at a PTA meeting horrified to find that she is surrounded by women in their 40s who are the leaving breathing embodiment of the mean girls from the 90s. Having little else to do other than prop up her self-absorbed an incredibly ungrateful family, Bells begins a blog in secret with some pretty acerbic, yet hilarious observations about the people in the town she has moved to.
From the minute we meet Bells, we are hit with the reality that this woman really doesn’t complain despite the fact that she has a billion reasons to. Her children treated her appallingly and the nicest thing Harry did for her was massage her feet that one time. Harry was the most self-absorbed man-child character I have met in a long time and he somehow managed to diminish even further in my esteem when he requested Bells host a work party when she was literally 38 weeks pregnant, at 43 – Seriously!
To make matters worse, he had the audacity to actually chip her about the clothes she was wearing and question why she was in the kitchen the whole night. Hence, Bells motivation to seek attention and gain self-worth via her often nasty neighbourhood blog was completely understandable – it was little wonder her self-confidence was utterly rubbish and she didn’t believe anyone was interested in her, because the reality was, no one she loved or cared about actually was, even her own mother was atrocious.
Whilst incredibly funny at times, there were also some powerful themes that were evident throughout, including the notion that the internet has destroyed the literal village that used to raise children and certainly support mothers – whatever stage of life. There was a very clear undertone of missing identities and the reality that despite every best intention, mothers are always going to feel guilty irrespective of the fantastic job they are doing – including just surviving.
Overall, this was a well written novel that was jam-packed with laughter and critical observations of our modern capitalist world. And whilst there were moments that were like a slow moving car crash, the moral purpose was loud and clear – check in on the women around you, because even the smallest kindness is a means of making any woman feel less invisible.
Book Info:
Publication: 6th April 2021 | Lake Union Publishing |
On the same day Bells Walker learns that her IUD has failed, her husband, Harry, is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two adolescent children, and her baby bump move to New York’s Hudson Valley, where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College in the town of Pigkill.
When the farm-to-table utopia Bells envisioned is anything but, she turns to the blogosphere. Under the pen name the County Dutchess, she anonymously dishes about life in Pigkill, detailing the activities of hypercompetitive parents and kombucha-drinking hipsters. Suddenly, Bells has a place to say all the things she’s been secretly thinking about being a wife and mother. As Bells turns the focus of her blog on her new neighbors, her readership continues to grow, but her scandalous posts hit closer to home: she puts Harry’s new job in jeopardy, derails her children’s lives, and risks the one real friendship she’s built.
When Bells uncovers scandals right under her nose, the Dutchess goes viral, and soon everyone is asking, Who is the County Dutchess? Now Bells has to ask herself if it’s worth losing the people closest to her to finally feel noticed by everyone else.
