Emily Hourican’s Mummy Darlings – a continuation of her Glorious Guinness Girls series, which follows the adventures of three real life Guinness heiresses and their (fictional) housemaid – explores what it’s like to go from a single, light-heeled party girl to a mother with responsibilities and marital obligations.  But it’s a book that definitely won’t work unless you’ve read all of the books in the series.

While Mummy Darlings tends to stay on the lighter side, focusing on domestic dramas, it does address the women’s connection to fascist Diana and Oswald Mosely. Unfortunately, it paints some of Diana’s choices in a romantic light; fortunately, the narrative expresses disgust for Diana’s fascism as well as that of her sister, Unity, and Diana’s second husband – the man she left her husband, Bryan Walter Guinness for – Oswald Mosely. The focus is on marital drama and childrearing, along with sudden bursts of scandal. Sometimes this fascinates. Sometimes it feels like a downmarket version of Downton Abbey. Sometimes it flies on its own. This feeling of unevenness is what has led to the middling grade but it’s entertaining if you can get past that.

It is 1930, and the giddy whirl of the 1920s – over which the three Guinness girls had reigned supreme from their perches at the heads of London’s social scene – has crashed to the ground in a rain of shattered crystal.

The girls live separately and each struggles with their marriage. Oonagh is married to Phillip Kindersley and is the closest to their London social circle. She takes to motherhood like a duck to water, producing two lively children and yearning for more, in spite of the medical challenges involved. But Phillip might not be as faithful as he seems, and may in fact be cheating on her with one of her closest friends.

Aileen, now married to Brinsley Sheridan Plunket, finds herself bitterly disappointed with life in Luttrellstown Castle. She dedicates herself to making over the place while trying to figure out what happens after the wedding bells have rung.
The bitterest pill to swallow is Maureen’s. Though she has a fine marriage with her burly Scottish politician husband, Basil Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, they often have alcohol-soaked fights. When the children come, Maureen is not comfortable with motherhood and they are more difficult than her sister’s, plus she must contend with her mother-in-law’s slide into dementia as well. All three girls are haunted by their selfish mother and the ongoing specter of antisemitism as they try to cope with their new circumstances

Watching over them all is Kathleen, their lady’s maid from their teenage years, who has grown to adulthood alongside them. Kathleen bounces between the girls’ orbit while exploring the independence and freedom that adulthood has brought. She may have found romance – and has definitely begun to find a place in some anti-fascist organizations.
This is a bittersweet book, and it grapples with both the death of dreams, the real difficulties of parenthood, and the larger scandals surrounding the sisters. There are disreputable, dramatic parties still, but much of the story relates to the drama of the nursery. The Guinness sisters gave birth to people who grew up to be interesting (though sometimes tragic) individuals, so one hopes that Hourican will explore those at some point.

It’s easiest to like Oonagh among the sisters; she’s filled with life and spirit and does not take a bit of what happens to her lying down. Her determination is to make a life that’s unlike the one her mother created, and to a degree she succeeds. Poor Maureen is frozen by her memories of her mother’s emotional abuse and is unable to connect to her children; she is sympathetic to a degree, and her marriage to Duff the most interesting of the three. Aileen ends up fading into the background, the character with the least interesting story.

Kathleen is the most interesting character because she’s not of the girls’ world, and passes between the rich and the poor universes with only moderate ease. World events are visited upon and make the most impact upon her.

Mummy Darlings is a decent piece of work, and it’s richly researched and nicely written, but only a few of its characters will stick with you to the bitter end.