Review: The third installment of a fun series.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2014
This is a review of [=Diary of an Inexperienced Father: months 4-9=] by [=Pete Sortwell=]This book is the next in the series from, and the sequel to, Diary of a Hapless Father: months 0-3 by Pete Sortwell.As with the other books, this tells the story of the next few months in the lives of Graham Peterson, his girlfriend Alison, and their baby son, Charlie.At the end of his previous book, Graham's life was a mess, with only the birth of his son as a highlight. Starting where that book left off, Graham is filled with hope that his new job will prove to be the making of him.He describes, in detail, how his job develops, from his first day. The story also tells of the development and growth of Charlie.Graham has always been concerned that he was not sufficiently mature or experienced enough to be a dad, and Pete Sortwell explores this theme throughout.There are some nice 'nods' to characters and places mentioned in previous books, but not too much or too many. You wouldn't, for example, have needed to have read any of the previous books to be able to follow the storyline here – but of course it helps.Sortwell's almost loving description of his central characters new job as a counsellor/care worker betrays his own background to a degree, and enables the reader to escape, albeit temporarily, from the relentlessness of being a good parent to a very young baby.Is there another episode in Graham's life to come? Who knows?A well-deserved 5 stars