There is nothing more nerve racking than waiting for the first review of a new book. Okay, apart from waiting to see if a publisher likes it enough to publish it. Or if you can actually get the text right in the first place. Or if the .. .Well, you get the idea. But I digress. I get pretty nervous waiting to see if reviewers will like my book. After all, reviewers are more likely to be honest than friends and family, and potential purchasers read reviews. Reviews can affect sales, and can also stoke (or destroy) fragile author egos.

So, I have a new book coming out in just a couple of weeks. Meet Mary Mackillop, illustrated by Sonia Martinez and published by Random House, will hit the shelves on May 1.  And, knowing that review copies have gone out, I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting to see what the reviewers would have to say. Today, at last, news of the first review came from the publicist Zoe.  And, I’m pleased to say, the review is positive. You can read it here, on Lisa Hill’s blog.

I’m especially delighted that Lisa not only likes the book (which, you know, is always kind of nice) but that she focuses on the appeal to the secular market. Yes, Mary Mackillop was a Catholic, and so the book is likely to appeal to Catholics and Catholic schools. But she was also a woman, in a man’s world,  who had to work against the odds to set up her schools and bring education to children who wouldn’t have otherwise had access. I’m so glad that Lisa gets this.