Gin and Phonics

'I believe that one of life's great joys is appreciating food and cooking for each other. And if the food is a burger and the person cooking it is a bloke with a McDonald's cap on, so be it.'

Self-deprecating and with an acerbic wit, TikTok star Clara Batten aka @rabatts is every middle-class mother trying to get through the day without another sh*t on the staircase or panic drive to McDonald's.

In Gin and Phonics, she talks candidly about the ups, downs and hilarious reality of trying to parent two small people and fulfil her lifelong dream of becoming an actress without losing her bl**dy mind. Told as a series of side-splitting vignettes in the phonics order, Clara wonders, among other things, WTF happened to the alphabet? How do you carve a new career in your forties? Might a box of semi-permanent rose gold hair dye be the best purchase you'll ever make? And is there a way of getting through a kid's birthday party without a triple-shot G&T? (Spoiler alert: no).

Funny and warm, Gin and Phonics is the antidote to Instagram-perfect motherhood we all need. Because the more of us that own up to wearing the same pants for two days straight and feeding our kids Haribo for breakfast, the better. Wait, is that just me?