“A mother knows best, doesn’t she?” In her latest novel, bestselling author Melissa Hill confronts a dilemma faced by many parents – the vaccination of their children. Mummy blogger Madeleine Cooper decides not to vaccinate her daughter because of concerns over the safety of the MMR jab, but when Clara contracts measles it turns out that she is not the only unvaccinated child in her class. Rosie O’Hara – who can’t be vaccinated because of a potentially life-threatening allergy – also contracts the disease and, unlike Clara, falls dangerously ill. As Rosie lies between life and death, the scientific and moral arguments for and against the MMR vaccine are played out in a court case between the Coopers and Rosie’s mother, Kate. Crucially, Hill makes it clear that any suggestion of a link between MMR and autism has been wholly discredited and that the doctor who posited it has been struck off, but nevertheless explores with sensitivity the lingering concerns felt by those parents who choose not to vaccinate their children. A rigorous yet entertaining examination of one of the most controversial issues in modern parenting.
