Product Description

22 stunning tales of pregnancy, birth and beyond . Emily Perkins, Polly Samson, Peter Carey, Julia Darling, Judith Bryan, Roddy Doyle, Jill Dawson, Chandani Lokuge, Eva Sallis, Margo Daly, Bridget O'Connor, Christopher Cyril, Alice Jerome, Bernard Cohen, David Guterson, Kathy Page, Kathryn Heyman, Nikki Gemmel, Simone Lazeroo, Hannah Fink, Nick Hornby, Rosie Waitt This highly varied and vibrant mosaic of fiction and memoir by some of our finest contemporary writers captures the individual and unique, as well as the quotidian and universal, in the birth experience. As Kathy Page's narrator puts it to her baby, 'You and I, the two of us, moving on, but the same time going back, where everyone has been before.' Here are the alterations of consciousness, the anxieties, vulnerabilities and glories of mothers; the baffled and triumphant perspectives of fathers. The full range of experience of new parents has been included, so that along with the intensity, joys and passions, there are still-births, unwanted pregnancies, post-natal depression, resentment of the father (who is at least able to slip out for a pint of Guinness - superbly captured in Jill Dawson's 'Twilight Zone'), plus autism, feelingly described by Nick Hornby. This is a moving and enlightening anthology, one to satisfy the cravings of expectant parents, certainly, but also for everyone else keen on fine prose and curious about the beginnings of life for us all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158098 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Independent, The Information, 25th September 2002
"It is not in the least bit soppy, but very moving and extremely well written."

About the Author
Jill Dawson is the author of three novels including FRED AND EDIE which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Novel of the Year. She lives in Cambridgeshire with her two sons. Margo Daly is a travel writer and editor. She is the co-editor with Jill Dawson, of WILD WAYS: NEW STORIES ABOUT WOMEN ON THE ROAD (Sceptre, 1998). She lives in Sydney with her daughter.

Customer Reviews

A breath of fresh air
As the editors of this book rightly say, when you are pregnant you become obsessed with reading anything and everything about conception, preganacy and childbirth. This is a wonderful anthology of beautifully written, moving pieces. Peter Carey's description of his son's birth is wonderful and joyous, and the extract from Roddy Doyle's book is hilarious - but there are some poignant moments too. That's what makes this book work - it is a balanced picture - the miracles are offset by the tragedies, and for every earth mother described, there is the one who feels all at sea with the whole thing.

It's a great book to dip into when you feel like a "fix" of baby talk - and to get a sense of the real human experience involved in conceiving, bearing and birthing children.

grown up writing about pregnancy
If you're sick of being faced with a choice of textbook, magazine or comic look at pregnancy and want something which goes a bit deeper, this is the book for you. I'm rationing myself to a couple of the stories a day, but could quite easily devour it in one sitting. One of the best things about this book is how contemporary it is. For someone like me whose friends are still mostly childless, it's replaced the sort of conversations I think I would have had with them. The other aspect about the book which I particularly like is the variety - it's comforting to hear how different people are and it reminds me that I don't have to conform to any stereotype.

Unexpected
While this book is completely not what I expected, it's amazing! The stories are so well written, you really get to empathise with what the characters are feeling; a good skill to aquire for a want-to-be midwife!