LYMM author Claire Baker has published a book “Family Matters” about a young mother facing the impossible choice between a career and motherhood.
The book follows Clodagh, a trainee solicitor, who is facing an impossible choice between career and motherhood following a one-night stand. Family Matters is due to be published on the 28th August 2026.
Set in Claire’s hometown of Manchester, it links back to the main character’s Irish roots.
Twenty-four-year-old trainee solicitor Clodagh McNamara is coming undone. Her mother is dead, her boyfriend has left, and her estranged father is remarrying.
After one reckless night with a stranger, Clodagh finds herself pregnant. Caught between her strict Catholic upbringing and the views of Cosmopolitan, her unofficial bible, she is confused and alone.
Work, once her refuge, turns toxic and she is haunted by the voice of her late mother. Paralysed by indecision, Clodagh must choose whether ambition or motherhood will define her future.
When the handsome stranger reappears, as her boss, he begins asking questions that Clodagh is desperate not to answer.
Supported by her pensioner neighbours who become her adopted family, Clodagh begins to believe that maybe she can survive on her own terms…
Retired solicitor Claire now lives a quiet life in Lymm. She is married, with two grown-up children and enjoys singing in her local choir, playing the piano, walking the Trans Pennine Trail, swimming, Pilates, reading, and the agony – and ecstasy – of writing.
Claire explains: “Most of the novel’s action takes place on or near to sites along the 41-bus route. I used to catch the bus to school. I became conscious of how much Manchester has changed and wanted to write about some of the areas I knew in my youth before they disappear, and those which have already disappeared.
“I also wanted to remember a transitional era where young women were told ‘they could have it all ‘and were equal to men but who discovered that it wasn’t that simple. Women could have it all but not at the same time. If you had a baby, there were career compromises to be made!”
Further information on Family Matters is available from The Book Guild, at: https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/contemporary/family-matters
