The Mother's Promise

I very much enjoyed The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth which is about a mother, Alice, and her daughter, Zoe.  Alice is a single mother and Zoe's father is not "in the picture".  Zoe has "social anxiety disorder" which makes every day difficult as she navigates her way through high school, experiencing bullying and being thought of as "a freak".  Alice does her best to protect Zoe from stressful situations.  But then Alice becomes very ill.  How can she protect her now?  Two other women come in to the picture to help Zoe.  Kate is Alice's oncology nurse and Sonja is her social worker.  These women have problems with their spouses.  Liane Moriarty on the back cover of the book describes it as "women's fiction at its finest".  This is a "women's book" but it is not "chick-lit".  The men in the women's lives are not nice characters.  41/2/5