Fully revised and updated, LIFE AFTER BIRTH takes a hard-hitting look at the reality - physical, emotional, social and sexual - of becoming a mother.

Forget about the baby for just one minute; what about you? New motherhood changes everything. Few women are prepared for the radical shifts in identity, emotional intensity and relations with friends, family and the father of their child. In this fully revised and updated edition of the classic book that first bust the conspiracy of silence surrounding the upheaval of new motherhood, Kate Figes draws on medical and historical research, the invention of 'good' motherhood as well as personal testimony to reassure new mothers everywhere that they are not only normal if they find things difficult, but also doing fine.

Reviews

'The complete manual of the terrors, exhaustion and passionate emotions of the post-partum existence. A classic' THE TIMES 'A sanctuary of revelation about the bafflingly contradictory experience of becoming and being a mother … In places I laughed aloud in relieved recognition' Rebecca Abrams, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY '[I] salute Kate Figes's sensitive book which, admirably, helps redress the balance between the plethora of pregnancy manuals and the ridiculous paucity of advice on how to cope after' Leonie Miller, MAIL ON SUNDAY

Author Biography

Kate Figes is the author of two other works of non-fiction: The Big Fat Bitch Book, The Terrible Teens - What Every Parent Needs to Know as well as two novels.