Hello, hello.
How have you been? I’m back from my short break (why does a week off always feel so much shorter than a working week??) though if you missed me, there were posts for paying subscribers while I was away, like this one on losses that leave no physical trace in the world and this one on how the process of becoming a mother both starts much earlier than we tend to acknowledge, while also taking much longer to weave into a comfortable fit.
Before we get into this month’s list of things I’ve loved lately, I have some exciting news: my book, Life, Almost: Miscarriage, misconceptions, and a search for answers from the brink of motherhood, will be available to buy in America from May 14th. You can pre-order here. 🇺🇸 (Also, U.S. readers who managed to get hold of a copy early from a UK seller – I know there are a few of you – I’d be especially grateful if you could leave a review for your fellow Americans who might find this book useful).
Now, on with the good stuff.
Reading/watching/listening…
North Woods, by Daniel Mason. I found this clever, multi-perspective novel telling the story of 400 years of life in the same patch of land in New England – via the humans who pass through it – so rewarding. It’s both epic and beautifully intricate. Even better, because it moves through a series of self-contained stories, it’s surprisingly manageable if you’re tired and short on reading time. (The only bit I couldn’t quite get on board with was the chapter from the perspective of a horny beetle.) Also, Maggie O’Farrell loved it, so you know it must be good.
Are you a-lonely? (That is: lacking in quality alone time. I’ve added the book this piece is taken from, on the importance of solitude, to my list.)
‘It felt like joy, wrapped up in terrible sadness.’ Why don’t we know more about vanishing twin syndrome?
One for anyone who’s ever tracked ovulation via their cervical mucus: a rare interview with Toni Weschler, the woman who brought the Fertility Awareness Method to the masses via the bestselling book Taking Charge Of Your Fertility.
This piece, by Lauren Bensted, on giving birth – and then being diagnosed with a life-changing disease.
Loads of people talk about ‘this stuff’ – miscarriage, infertility, baby loss – and it’s still not enough. (A characteristically excellent essay by
).The problem with the phrase ‘never give up hope’ by
I’m three episodes in to Child, a BBC podcast series that puts the beginnings of life, from fertilisation to first birthday, under the microscope. If you liked my book even a little bit, you will love this.
The
podcast – interviewing writers and filling the hole in my heart left when Literary Friction came to an end.This episode of Doing It Right from
on how the internet is flattening personal taste.I’d never heard of ‘insufficient glandular tissue’ before – yet it’s the most common primary reason that breastfeeding doesn’t work, and potentially affects as many as one in 20 women, as this piece reports.
on the astonishingly thoughtless things people say if you have an ‘only’ child.The curious rise of fertility psychics.
And finally: One Day author David Nicholls is just as lovely as you might imagine.
Other joys…
Yesterday morning, because for the first time this year the air had a softness that felt truly like spring. Swimming here. Walking here. Drinking this. Doing all of the above with old friends. Evenings that are light enough for a post-7pm run. Planning parties: for Dan, for Edward, for my paperback launch. Fern spirals. Finally getting round to watching Taskmaster – and the fact there are 17 series of silliness for me to work my way though (sometimes it pays to be behind the zeitgeist 🤷🏻). Meeting my niece for the very first time.
In case you missed it…
I wrote about the doula boom for Women’s Health UK.
Ghosts in our machines: On searching for what we’ve lost via Google Street View. (£)
Love what you write and do! Pre-ordered the book, thank you <3
That Jo Elvin piece was so good! Thanks for the rec. 💕🙏