Blog Tour stop for this honest discussion of the wonder of motherhood and its heartbreaking and frustrating moments
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"What does it mean to be a mother? Twenty writers speak out in this searingly honest, diverse and powerful collection. "
Synopsis
Motherhood is life-changing. Disorientating, overwhelming, intense on every level, it can leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about yourself.
Yet despite more women speaking out in recent years about the reality of their experiences – good, bad and in between – all too often it’s the same stories getting told, while key parts of the maternal experience still remain unspeakable and unseen.
There are a million different ways to be a mother, yet the vision we see in books, on screen and online overwhelmingly fails to represent this commonplace yet extraordinary experience for most of us. It’s time to broaden the conversation.
The Best, Most Awful Job is a deeply personal collection about motherhood in all its raw, heart-wrenching, gloriously impossible forms. Overturning assumptions, breaking down myths, shattering stereotypes, it challenges perceptions of what it means to be a mother.
Pulsating with energy and emotion, and covering deeply personal stories The Best, Most Awful Job brings together a diverse range of bold and brilliant writers and asks you to listen.
Some highlights include:
· Hollie McNish on her trademark outspoken and sane form
· Josie George writing beautifully and carefully about mothering yourself and your child when your body won’t play ball
· Michelle Adams on meeting your adoptive child and learning to be a mother
· Peggy Riley on the lost heartbeat of a deeply yearned-for child
· Mimi Aye on the pain of her children being seen as ‘other’ in their own country
· Leah Hazard - practising midwife and author of Hard Pushed - on the scars our bodies hold as mothers...
· Stories also cover: being unable to conceive, step-parenting, losing a child, single parenthood, being an autistic mother, being a reluctant home-schooler and the many ways in which race, class, disability, religion and sexuality affect Motherhood.
My Review
From the moment the opportunity to read and review this book came about I could not wait to get stuck in!
A truly wonderful collection of stories around motherhood, that as a mother of 3 boys really sung to my soul.
Frank, honest, raw, heartbreaking, inspirational and sincere, This book shares both the amazing joys and the nightmares of motherhood the challenges the things that you feel now one else must have ever though as a mother, its in here laid bare.
This book made me laugh, snort, cry and nod along in a way think yep I get that or yes I have had that thought or moment. It does not shy away from any topic, miscarriage, loss, post-natal depression, stress and why should it? most of these topics are thought of as taboo, but the more people who speak up about these difficulties the more others can take the advice and support offered without worry.
For me this book would be an amazing gift for any Mum or Mum-To-Be, I only wish this book had been available while i was pregnant or in the early years, so many times I have had moments thinking does this happen to everyone? why do I feel like this? Or times when you just need the words, or comfort of knowing another person has been through the same.
This book is released on the 19th March perfect for mothers day, order from your bookseller or pre- order on Amazon. This is the perfect gift, because not only does it show you the wonders of motherhood and its more heartbreaking moments, it really made me think of what my own mother and the amazing ladies in my life that are Mum's have and are going through, I hope they and you can take the support given in this read and know how fabulous all us Mum's are.
Author Bio
Katherine May is an author of fiction and memoir whose most recent works have shown a willingness to deal frankly with the more ambiguous aspects of parenting.
In The Electricity of Every Living Thing she explored the challenges – and joys – of being an autistic mother, and sparked a debate about the right of mothers to ask for solitude.
In the forthcoming Wintering, she looks at the ways in which parenting can lead to periods of isolation and stress.
She lives with her husband and son in Whitstable, Kent.
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Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.