What do you think?
Rate this book
In the Wee Small Hours
Life just keeps getting more complicated for Annie Baker. Her sister Lizzie's pregnant and wants Annie to be her birth-partner - she's planning an active labour, in water, with lots of candles and music. Her partner Matt isn't too sure, although he's bought some new swimming trunks just in case. Annie's friend Leila has got a new man, Tor, and she's getting heavily into yoga, while Kate from the village has somehow ended up having an affair with her own ex-husband.
And as for the men in Annie's own life, it just gets worse. Her seven-year-old son Charlie is now officially Pagan, and desperate for his own pet pheasant. Boss Barney is building a bit of a reputation for TV commercials involving stunts, so if she's not lurching around the North Sea in a trawler, she's stuck up a crane. Then there's Uncle Monty to keep an eye on, a retired mole-catcher who collects bric-a-brac. He's eighty-three and a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and has just threatened the Meals on Wheels lady with a shotgun and refuses to leave the farm where he's lived all his life. And as if all that wasn't difficult enough, Mack comes back from New York, just when Annie was beginning to think she might be able to cope without him ...
For everyone who fell in love with Annie Baker and her Only Boy for Me , here's what happened next. And for anyone who's ever wondered how to combine motherhood, the country life and a career in town, and why pheasants make that weird clicking noise, this is essential reading.
And as for the men in Annie's own life, it just gets worse. Her seven-year-old son Charlie is now officially Pagan, and desperate for his own pet pheasant. Boss Barney is building a bit of a reputation for TV commercials involving stunts, so if she's not lurching around the North Sea in a trawler, she's stuck up a crane. Then there's Uncle Monty to keep an eye on, a retired mole-catcher who collects bric-a-brac. He's eighty-three and a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and has just threatened the Meals on Wheels lady with a shotgun and refuses to leave the farm where he's lived all his life. And as if all that wasn't difficult enough, Mack comes back from New York, just when Annie was beginning to think she might be able to cope without him ...
For everyone who fell in love with Annie Baker and her Only Boy for Me , here's what happened next. And for anyone who's ever wondered how to combine motherhood, the country life and a career in town, and why pheasants make that weird clicking noise, this is essential reading.
Paperback
First published July 4, 2011
About the author
Gil McNeil
32 books259 followersGil McNeil is the author of the bestselling The Only Boy for Me, Stand By Your Man, In The Wee Small Hours and most recently Divas Don’t Knit. The Only Boy For Me has been made into a major ITV prime-time drama starring Helen Baxendale and was broadcast in 2007. Gil McNeil has edited five collections of stories with Sarah Brown, and is Director of the charity PiggyBankKids, which supports projects that create opportunities for children. She lives in Kent with her son and comes from a long line of champion knitters.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 15, 2013
I will take a Gil McNeil book any day! I love her rambling stories, lovely characters and witty humor. And I love that the ending for this story could easily lead into another book.
January 30, 2010
Annie Baker’s life could not be more complicated: her sister Lizzie wants her to be her birthing partner once she goes into labour, her boss Barney has her working like a demon as he tries to make even more outrageous commercials and her friends Kate and Laila are either wrapped up in new men or having an affair with their ex-husband. Her son Charlie has now decided he wants to be a Pagan and wants a pet pheasant, dog and ferret and she also has to look after her old, and slightly mad, Uncle Monty. To top it all off, just when she thinks she’s getting over Mack, he comes waltzing back into her life. What’s a girl to do?
After loving Gil McNeil’s debut novel The Only Boy For Me, I set about looking up Gil’s other books. I looked at them all and noticed there was a sequel to The Only Boy For Me and that made my day. I was thrilled that I’d have the chance to get back into Annie’s – and more importantly Charlie’s – world and couldn’t believe it when I spotted In The Wee Small Hours in the book swop a month or so ago. I finally got around to reading it and found myself easily sucked into Annie’s chaotic life.
While you don’t have to read The Only Boy For Me before you read In The Wee Small Hours, I suggest you do because it’s hilariously funny and sets the scene perfectly for book two. In The Wee Small Hours picks up Annie Baker’s life around six months after The Only Boy For Me ends and I was quickly sucked back into Annie’s world. Gil McNeil’s writing style is very smooth and she’s crafted such fantastic characters that I found myself whizzing through the book. The chapters are quite long so you would have to set some time free to be able to really get stuck into the book especially if you like to finish a chapter before you finish reading for the day/night.
Annie’s life was rather hectic in The Only Boy For Me and it carries on throughout In The Wee Small Hours. Annie seems to lurch from one crisis to the next; her sister’s impending labour, her precocious son, having to look after her mad Uncle Monty as well as having to deal with her boss Barney not to mention the fact that Mack walks back into her life after leaving for New York in the first book. All of the characters from the first book return and it’s as if I never left them – regardless of the fact I read The Only Boy For Me months ago. There isn’t one major plot to In The Wee Small Hours, there are lots of mini plots, all of which I mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph.
Annie makes a fantastic heroine. I could read about her and Charlie’s life all day. She’s incredibly independent, she’s fiercly protective of all of her friends and she’s just an incredibly character. Like the first book it’s Charlie that really helps to carry the book. He’s one of my favourite child characters in any book. The statements he comes out with and the randomness with which he chooses his religion/his pets always makes me laugh. It’s easy to imagine Charlie as a real little person and I’d love to know who Gil modelled him off. Annie’s friends and family are ever-present throughout the book. Laila, Kate and Sally are Annie’s best friends and they’re all there whenever Annie needs them. All three could have separate books if Gil wanted to do that and I’d happily read them. Annie’s mother, father and sister are always around and I loved Lizzie, Annie’s sister. My favourite character over both books, bar Charlie and Annie, had to be Barney, Annie’s director boss. He loves his job and loves making adverts with crazy stunts and I thought he was just hilarious. The way he wound Lawrence (Annie’s co-worker) throughout both books made me laugh out loud. I have to say that I really liked Annie’s Uncle Monty. He may have been a tad mad but I really liked him and felt so sorry for him since he’d lost his wife. Mack was a weird character for me. I liked him for the most part but found him very pig-headed also.
As I mentioned above, Gil’s writing is very relaxed and an easy style to read. The entire book is told from Annie’s point of view (like the first one) which is the perfect style for this kind of book. I read 70 or so pages a few days ago, got hooked but since I’ve been busy I haven’t had chance to pick it up for days yet when I started it again today from page 70 I got straight back into the story and it was like I hadn’t not read a page for three days. The ending of the book was incredibly surprising and very tragic. I had a funny feeling somebody was going to die and I knew who my money was on so to lose someone else was completely unexpected and took me completely by surprise. Up until that point I would have happily read a third book in the series but I feel it wouldn’t be worth it after losing such an important character to the story.
In The Wee Small Hours was a fantastic read and if you haven’t read one of Gil McNeil’s books then I hugely recommend you pick one up. I’ve only read two of her books but I hugely enjoyed both and have her Divas Don’t Knit/Needles and Pearls to read and I look forward to devouring them. I will say one thing though: read The Only Boy For Me first. Not because it’s necessary but because it’s a fantastic read and you can read In The Wee Small Hours straight afterwards. Hugely recommended.
After loving Gil McNeil’s debut novel The Only Boy For Me, I set about looking up Gil’s other books. I looked at them all and noticed there was a sequel to The Only Boy For Me and that made my day. I was thrilled that I’d have the chance to get back into Annie’s – and more importantly Charlie’s – world and couldn’t believe it when I spotted In The Wee Small Hours in the book swop a month or so ago. I finally got around to reading it and found myself easily sucked into Annie’s chaotic life.
While you don’t have to read The Only Boy For Me before you read In The Wee Small Hours, I suggest you do because it’s hilariously funny and sets the scene perfectly for book two. In The Wee Small Hours picks up Annie Baker’s life around six months after The Only Boy For Me ends and I was quickly sucked back into Annie’s world. Gil McNeil’s writing style is very smooth and she’s crafted such fantastic characters that I found myself whizzing through the book. The chapters are quite long so you would have to set some time free to be able to really get stuck into the book especially if you like to finish a chapter before you finish reading for the day/night.
Annie’s life was rather hectic in The Only Boy For Me and it carries on throughout In The Wee Small Hours. Annie seems to lurch from one crisis to the next; her sister’s impending labour, her precocious son, having to look after her mad Uncle Monty as well as having to deal with her boss Barney not to mention the fact that Mack walks back into her life after leaving for New York in the first book. All of the characters from the first book return and it’s as if I never left them – regardless of the fact I read The Only Boy For Me months ago. There isn’t one major plot to In The Wee Small Hours, there are lots of mini plots, all of which I mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph.
Annie makes a fantastic heroine. I could read about her and Charlie’s life all day. She’s incredibly independent, she’s fiercly protective of all of her friends and she’s just an incredibly character. Like the first book it’s Charlie that really helps to carry the book. He’s one of my favourite child characters in any book. The statements he comes out with and the randomness with which he chooses his religion/his pets always makes me laugh. It’s easy to imagine Charlie as a real little person and I’d love to know who Gil modelled him off. Annie’s friends and family are ever-present throughout the book. Laila, Kate and Sally are Annie’s best friends and they’re all there whenever Annie needs them. All three could have separate books if Gil wanted to do that and I’d happily read them. Annie’s mother, father and sister are always around and I loved Lizzie, Annie’s sister. My favourite character over both books, bar Charlie and Annie, had to be Barney, Annie’s director boss. He loves his job and loves making adverts with crazy stunts and I thought he was just hilarious. The way he wound Lawrence (Annie’s co-worker) throughout both books made me laugh out loud. I have to say that I really liked Annie’s Uncle Monty. He may have been a tad mad but I really liked him and felt so sorry for him since he’d lost his wife. Mack was a weird character for me. I liked him for the most part but found him very pig-headed also.
As I mentioned above, Gil’s writing is very relaxed and an easy style to read. The entire book is told from Annie’s point of view (like the first one) which is the perfect style for this kind of book. I read 70 or so pages a few days ago, got hooked but since I’ve been busy I haven’t had chance to pick it up for days yet when I started it again today from page 70 I got straight back into the story and it was like I hadn’t not read a page for three days. The ending of the book was incredibly surprising and very tragic. I had a funny feeling somebody was going to die and I knew who my money was on so to lose someone else was completely unexpected and took me completely by surprise. Up until that point I would have happily read a third book in the series but I feel it wouldn’t be worth it after losing such an important character to the story.
In The Wee Small Hours was a fantastic read and if you haven’t read one of Gil McNeil’s books then I hugely recommend you pick one up. I’ve only read two of her books but I hugely enjoyed both and have her Divas Don’t Knit/Needles and Pearls to read and I look forward to devouring them. I will say one thing though: read The Only Boy For Me first. Not because it’s necessary but because it’s a fantastic read and you can read In The Wee Small Hours straight afterwards. Hugely recommended.
July 29, 2024
3.5* rounded up.
Here Annie works as a producer of TV advertisements (I think) while parenting her precocious and extremely rude son Charlie and caring for her eccentric Uncle Monty.
I enjoyed this one less than 'Stand by Your Man', partly because I found the way Annie let her son speak to her continually disconcerting and partly because there is no way the romantic relationship she ends up with will last 5 minutes.
Here Annie works as a producer of TV advertisements (I think) while parenting her precocious and extremely rude son Charlie and caring for her eccentric Uncle Monty.
I enjoyed this one less than 'Stand by Your Man', partly because I found the way Annie let her son speak to her continually disconcerting and partly because there is no way the romantic relationship she ends up with will last 5 minutes.
August 15, 2024
Disappointing after "A Good Year for the Roses", which I loved. I only managed to make myself read about 1/3 of this book. I disliked the characters (way too much complaining and negativity) and really didn't care enough about their lives to finish. Might try another by McNeil as "Stand By Your Man" sounds good. We'll see.
April 20, 2023
Well, that one took me a while to get to but the wait was worth it! My love for McNeil books has not wained over the years. Not a romance, in fact really not a Mack fan, but an every day life story. You'll laugh out loud and maybe cry a little. Just really enjoyable.
April 29, 2020
Couldn’t finish this - far too chaotic, unnecessary foul language, irritating - gave up.
March 12, 2017
After reading "Only Boy for Me" I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh out loud like most of
Gil McNeil's books do. I could live without all of the "language" which in my opinion does not add to the story.
The characters are very well described and they pulled me into the story. I could really relate to them.
Gil McNeil's books do. I could live without all of the "language" which in my opinion does not add to the story.
The characters are very well described and they pulled me into the story. I could really relate to them.
May 20, 2011
This was a sequel and again it was lovely to pick up with familiar characters. I do like her style. Annie is bringing up her small son Charlie. She has plenty of friends and gets roped into lots of the school fundraising ideas along the way. She helps look after her aged uncle Monty on his farm. She meets an old boyfriend Mack- but do they want the same things from life?!
July 30, 2010
This was hysterically funny, I should have been British because I just love this dry, self-deprecating humor. I was really irritiated by the way the first book about Annie ended; this one was much more satisfying. Any mother will find this laugh-out-loud funny!!
January 26, 2008
Sequel to "The Only Boy for Me". Just as good!
August 24, 2009
A good quick read, but I preferred her Beach Street Knitting ...
January 4, 2011
A wonderful continuation of Annie and Charlie's tale! Funny, easy to read and so, oh so heart-warming!
January 25, 2011
This was a great book .... so funny but with a good story. Didn't want it to end.
May 8, 2013
Entertaining but very similar to all her other books.
August 27, 2014
Hilarious! Laughed out loud a number of times and reread sections to my husband just so I would have someone else to laugh with. Loved it!!
February 15, 2016
Audiobook. I think this is called Chick Lit. OK. Not hugely compelling; a good don't-have-to-pay-100%-attention whilst cooking read.....
May 31, 2015
I enjoyed this, a nice easy romance with good characters, what I'd expect of this author.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews