Claire is expecting a baby. It’s her dream but not everyone is as supportive as she’d like . . .
Isolated and vulnerable, she is drawn into an online group for ‘natural motherhood’ and is warmly embraced by the sisterhood.
As Claire withdraws further into their world and with her due date fast approaching, she is unsettled by the group’s conformity and the total shunning of medical intervention.
But blind loyalty can be catastrophic – and her silence could be fatal . . .
Book Info: Print length: 291 pages. Publisher: Orion. Publication Date: 8th Nov 2024
My Thoughts:
WOW, Baby Teeth is one of the most uncomfortable psychological thrillers I’ve read in a long time.
Firstly let’s get the trigger warnings out of the way: This book covers the topics of miscarriage, infertility, baby loss, traumatic births and many other sensitive subjects regarding pregnancy.
Claire is our main character, happily married to James, they have recently relocated to London for his work and are trying for their first baby. Unfortunately this just isn’t happening for them, which is putting a strain on their marriage and Claire’s mental health.
She’s alienated from her family and friends having moved so far away from them. She’s working in an unfamiliar environment which appears hostile and unfriendly and becomes increasingly dependent on social media for support in her quest to become pregnant.
Quickly falling down the dangerous rabbit hole of Online Support Groups, Claire finds a group of women who seem at first to share her innermost thoughts and fears and starts to rely on them with alarming naivete whilst the reader is literally screaming STOP IT – NO NO NO.
It isn’t easy to connect to Claire because her actions are bordering on insane sometimes, but it is easy to understand how her fragile mental health allows her to behave in the ways she does.
Overall, I thought Baby Teeth was a really uncomfortable and thought-provoking tale of the toxicity and dangers of Social Media together with the raw and often distressing aspects of motherhood and I look forward to reading more from this author.
