Title: Dirty Laundry
Author: Disha Bose
Pages: 309
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: 24th March 2023
Blurb from Goodreads:
Keep your friends close and your neighbours closer...
Ciara
has it all - a loving husband, well-behaved children and an
immaculate home. But behind the filters, her reality is far from what
it seems.
Mishti is stuck in a loveless marriage,
raising her daughter in a country that is too cold, among children
who look nothing like her.
Lauren is mostly happy,
despite being judged for letting her kids run naked, wild and
free.
Then Ciara is found murdered in her pristine home
and suddenly everyone is a suspect.
Hushed whispers,
secret rendezvous and bloody betrayals . . .
Everyone has
their dirty laundry, but this goes beyond gossip.
This
is all-out war.
A deliciously scandalous
page-turner about the dark side of suburbia that peels back the
layers of Ciara's insta-perfect life to reveal friendships gone
rotten, manipulation masquerading as love and families riddled with
lies . . .
Goodreads | Storygraph | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Bookshop
My Review:
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My
thanks to Penguin and NetGalley*
Influencer Ciara appears
to have it all - a wealthy husband, darling children and the devotion
of every mother in the town, apart from one.
Lauren is the only
mother that is willing to voice her true thoughts and feelings about
Ciara, something that isolates her from the other mothers.
Ciara
is Mishti's only friend, but Mishti doesn't tell her everything.
Will
Mishti and the other mothers see behind Ciara's facade?
Can
Ciara maintain her lies or will cracks start to show?
The
idea of a book about housewives and their secrets intrigued me, and
while I wasn't blown away by what I read, I enjoyed it overall.
The
three protagonists of Ciara, Mishti and Lauren were all very
different. I found Ciara to be quite unlikeable, but as I found out
more about her childhood, I felt a bit sorry for her. I also felt
sorry for both Mishti and Lauren - Mishti because she was stuck in a
marriage with a man who didn't love her and controlled aspects of her
life, and Lauren because of the way she was treated by the other
mothers.
The setting of Ireland was different, but I wouldn't
have known that Ireland was the setting if not for a couple of
comments.
The plot held my attention throughout, but nothing
that happened surprised me, and I wasn't itching to pick up the book
and find out what happened next.
The writing style was easy to
follow.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read.