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The novel tries to critique a certain brand of feminism by portraying how hypocritical certain female entrepreneurs are: in spite of their ‘empowering’ agendas they still encourage their female associates to spend hours on end on their appearances or they are actually profiteering from other women’s insecurities. Bryony afraid to be judged tells what is supposed to be a harmless white lie before a children's birthday party. The consequences are more dangerous than she could ever have imagined!!
At the outset it reminded me a little of The Slap, so much so that I read it in my head in an Australian accent, though it’s set in England. As the story progressed, I found myself losing patience with it. There are lots of twists make you forget your name and repeat to yourself: “Don’t call me Shirley!” several times! You feel flabbergasted, dump, numb because of too much “I didn’t see it coming” moments. The ending is also fantastic. I’m so happy to announce that I found a real five starred, entertaining read.Though told with clarity and balance, Emily Edwards’ The Herd is an emotional rollercoaster of a novel for readers who like their fiction to have real-life resonance, and family life at its heart. Exploring both sides of the child vaccination debate through two women, its themes and heated scenarios chime with current vaccination debates and conflicts. Namely, how societies and individuals navigate and reconcile public health needs with personal beliefs and fears. The Herd is a debut novel for Emily Edwards. It is set pre-pandemic and is about whether to vaccinate your children. Elizabeth is pro-vaccination and has vaccinated both of her boys. Still, not her girl, Clemmie, whom she believed could not be vaccinated, isn’t. Bry, Elizabeth’s best friend, is anti-vaccine. Neither she nor her daughter has been immunised. She has been bought up to hate vaccines as her brother is non-verbal autistic, which her mother blamed on him having the MMR injection. All is fine until Bry, Alba (her daughter), and little Clemmie catches the measles, leaving Clemmie with lifelong repercussions.
Her disappearance unfolds in a predictable way: her closest friends decide to embark on their own investigation even if there is a detective working the case. Katie and Hana are sisters and both were close to Eleanor. In alternating chapters we read of their amateurish attempts at finding out what Eleanor was hiding. They are also hiding things from one another and they are both trying to forget about a ‘traumatising’ incident from their pasts.
The book is told through both parties viewpoints in 2019 with sections designated to a trial held at the end of that year. and in my opinion is one of those books which is best read without too much forewarning. Little do they know that they differ radically over one very important issue. And when Bryony, afraid of being judged, tells what is supposed to be a harmless white lie before a child's birthday party, the consequences are more catastrophic than either of them could ever have imagined. I didn’t understand exactly how this was going to pan out for me as it was close to what’s happening in the U.K. at the moment with “herding” as regards to jabs/vaccines and Covid.
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