I wanted to like this book, and feel that the subject matter is critically important to expose and discuss.
I found Stephanie to be very whiny. I couldn't understand her decisions like snooping at her client's house rather than studying and spending her tax return on an expensive ring after saying that her daughter got sick because of black mould.

For some reason, I expected this book to be very similar to 'the help'.

It's an entirely different kind of book, written for the present day, but no less enthralling for the fact.

I read this book in 2 days - it is raw, relatable and very well written. Mia and Steph are trying to make their way through life as a daughter and single mother. Money is more than tight and they live a hand to mouth existence, only helped by Steph's job as a cleaner - or 'maid'. I loved the descriptions of the houses she worked in, the reality of their life together, the highs and lows of their journey.

I don't want to give anything away but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

I was really rooting for Stephanie through her trials and tribulations and decisions (whether good or otherwise). I am really pleased she managed to come through and achieve her ambition.

Stephanie Land didn’t experience the best start in life, well not when it comes down to the most important thing for a child - love. Neither parent seemed to have much of it to give, in fact they present themselves as extremely selfish individuals. At nineteen Stephanie is pregnant and in an abusive relationship, which should herald the end of her dreams of going to college, but this is one thing that she will try desperately to hang onto.

We accompany Stephanie and her daughter Mia, as they attempt to overcome the many trials and tribulations that come with being caught up in the poverty trap. The rules imposed on people in their position appear to be designed to keep them there! Life for Stephanie is really tough - it’s a round of long hours of physically hard work as a maid, cleaning the homes of the wealthy, whilst receiving low pay in return, and she still tries to include some study time in the hopes of a better future. In addition, Mia is a sickly child who’s illnesses are compounded by the poor living conditions that they have to endure. There’s also the indignities that Stephanie experiences when using food stamps in the grocery store - on one occasion the man behind her in the queue remarks loudly enough so that everyone can hear “You’re welcome “ the implication being that he personally has paid for the food by paying his taxes. Little did he know just how hard Stephanie had to work to simply hang onto what little she had - the old car that was essential to enable her to get to clients homes, the glass walled studio apartment overlooking the freeway, which was freezing cold and black with mould in winter, and then turned into a greenhouse in the summer, (and she could barely afford even that)! But most of all it was Mia that made the hard work not only essential, but worth it, as Stephanie battled against ex partner Jamie’s constant threats to apply for custody of Mia every time something went wrong in her life.

There’s no doubt that Stephanie did initially make some poor choices in life, (though she soon discovers that freedom of choice is a privilege granted only to those with financial security) but it would be wrong of me to suggest that everything that happens to her was entirely her fault - it wasn’t. Once you’re in a cycle of poverty, it’s really really difficult to get out of it. There were moments when she couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but her love for Mia just pushes her that extra yard to aspire to those goals that she thought were lost forever.

I do feel that some areas of Stephanie's personal life were skimmed over in favour of descriptions of clients homes. Just one instance of this was when a male friend lent her a car, it turned out that she'd been 'seeing' him on and off for some time, but this was the first and only mention of him! However, this was an enlightening memoir with regard to the human face of poverty -the one behind the government’s statistics.