I SO rooted for Jane, and I really appreciated the character development given to the characters that you'd least expect. I thought that the big reveal of what happened in Room 3 would go some way to explaining Jane’s motivations and actions in her adult life but in the end it felt a bit of a let-down. Funny (of course), with heavy subjects written in a light, somewhat anxious, tone Suttie’s debut hit all the right marks. Suttie brightens the page with her eccentric characters and wonderful observations of small-town life.

We were lucky and it didn’t take that long, but I was still shocked by how obsessed I became with getting pregnant and how disappointed I was every time my period came. The story didn't intrigue and the themes such as mental health etc were dealt with at a superficial level. Now she’s about to publish her debut novel, Jane Is Trying, about an anxiety sufferer’s struggles to get pregnant. I think Isy Suttie handles all this really well in her latest novel, Jane is Trying - a warm and funny observation of one woman’s attempt to start over.Jane’s struggles with conception, anxiety and undiagnosed OCD are immaculately written and Jane is Trying covers the ‘not knowing’ and ‘trying to figure it out’ aspect of life really well. As for OCD, I’ve never had it to the same incapacitating extent as Jane but yes, that’s another indicator that my head is too full. I can’t imagine it being in anyone’s voice other than hers and I would recommend this as highly as any audio. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Suttie has a keen eye for supplementary detail, which makes her story seem all the more real, and an ear for a nice turn of phrase, which makes it delightful to read. Other times it was downright irritating and so it was satisfying to see Jane refuse to engage with it. More generally, I wish we'd stop getting novels where the female protagonists are lost, helpless oftentimes privileged women who cannot figure their life out.

With an increasing load on her plate, friends and family who think she’ll have a perfect life if she only listens to them, and a brain which questions every decision she’s ever made, can Jane conquer her demons and step forward on her own? Suttie has created a charming world of oddballs (and their even odder parents) I miss them all already! Here, Jane can no longer be the commander of her own destiny, with interference from every quarter: meddling friends, suffocating family, terrible therapists and more. Dealing with anxiety and how it can come to be in a sensitive matter, this book really highlighted those fatalistic intrusive thoughts that are often out of our control but become all-consuming. I would still perhaps proceed with caution if you’re planning to read this and feeling overly sensitive to fertility chat.