Ashleigh Hockley

‘To a parent, your child wasn’t just a person: your child was a  place , a kind of Narnia, a vast eternal place where the present you were living and the past you remembered and the future you longed for all existed at once.’ – Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere.  Today is Mother’s Day in Australia and I decided to reflect on just one book this year around the theme of mothers. I decided to focus on this masterpiece by Celeste Ng because it shows a unique plot of motherhood.  This novel centres on a custody battle for a beautiful baby girl.  Little Fires Everywhere is a King Solomon dilemma for modern society. What makes a mother? Two mothers both with a profound love for one baby. Both mothers are very different but loving women with their own individual flaws and shortcomings. Who should have custody?  Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon are the stars of the new mini series based on this best selling novel. Little Fires Everywhere will...

A guilty verdict for a victim is never enough to lessen their pain but it is a start. It has meant they were believed. Even when believed though the story does not end when a rapist goes to jail.  The past few months I have focused on true stories of sexual assault survivors. It has been draining and inspiring. While reading the following stories has been painful they have all given me hope that one day the world might be okay. If only we listen.  1. Know My Name by Chanel Miller. “You took away My worth,  My privacy, My energy, My time,  My safety, My intimacy, My confidence, My own voice, Until today.” - Chanel Miller.  In 2015 an unconscious young woman was assaulted behind a dumpster at Stanford University after attending a party on campus. Her attacker was a student by the name of Brock Turner. He was known for his skill as a swimmer. Two brave bystanders, Swedish young men out for a bike ride, saw th...

If you are anything like me you are missing the television series Big Little Lies. Since there has been no official confirmation there will be a season three of the ground breaking show, I have found the best way to get my fix of drama…binge reading Liane Moriarty’s other books. When I walked into my local bookstore and I picked up the following three books the lovely girl at the check out said “Looks like you sure did love  Big Little Lies .” I sure did and it will always be one of my most favourite books. For a review of  Big Little Lies  have a read of my pervious blog post  but if you want to know if Liane Moritary can keep up the excellent plot twists in all her novels read below…. Spoiler, she can.  1.  The Husband’s Secret If you’re looking for something similar to  Big Little Lies  filled with drama and twists then this should be your next read. It follows the stories of three women in Sydney, Australia who are all connecte...

Happy Mother’s Day…Here is a collection of books about terrible mothers. I know it sounds kind of twisted to turn a holiday where we buy the important women in our lives an abundance of pyjamas into a celebration of thriller novels but I’m trying something different this year. I was thinking about this holiday and how there are children who are unlucky to be born into families that don’t protect them; instead their families are the very thing they need protection from.  I was blessed with a mother who is practically perfect in every way; she is always sweet and hilarious. This is a woman who will go down a slide with her little dog on her lap, who will give me coffee in a travel mug at 6:00am and who treats my friends like they are her own children.  The mothers in the following three books have nothing in common with my mother. The mothers at the focus of the novels in this collection go against nature. They do not have a desire to love the babies that depend on t...