This is a book about motherhood. And the shapes it takes.
This is a book about bodies. And how some are less than the sum of their parts.
This is a book about choices. The roads we follow, and those we are not allowed to walk.
ELIF SHAFAK, author and activist
"Brilliant, brave, beautiful . . . such an inspiring book"
AVNI DOSHI, author of Booker Prize shortlisted Burnt Sugar
‘Intimate and insightful, Pragya Agarwal expands the meaning of the word motherhood in this brilliant book. This is urgent, essential reading for everyone.’
MICHAEL CASHMAN, CBE and Co-founder of Stonewall
‘Absolutely sensational. Revelatory and of its time, challenging myths and ingrained perceptions. I could not put it down. Everyone should read this’
ANGELA SAINI, author of Inferior and Superior
"(M)otherhood is a valuable step towards a literature that acknowledges the breadth and variety of the parenting experience and its cultural meanings. It is touchingly personal and brave."
SARA PASCOE, comedian, actor and author of Sex Power Money
“Thought- provoking and important. As always Agarwal delves into herself as well as rigorous research to open our minds''
OLIVIA SUDJIC, author of Asylum Road
‘(M)otherhood is a wide ranging, searingly honest, and timely intervention into the framing of a fundamental and fraught choice, as well as an impassioned defence of ambivalence as part of the human condition.’
HEIDI JAMES, author of The Sound Mirror
“This exceptional book combines the clarity and rigour of an academic text with the compelling and beautiful storytelling of a novel – an important, generous and profoundly wise consideration of motherhood, including the choice not to be a mother.”
SONIA FALEIRO, author of The Good Girls
“The book on motherhood we have all been waiting for. Pragya has written an essential & deeply moving memoir whose time has come.”
HELEN BAGNALL, Salon London and ALSO Festival
"I've never really read anything like it. It is the first book that makes me feel included for my choice not to pursue having children. And another part of me that was concerned about what we hand on to the next generation is a little bit more at rest knowing this book is written . . . A work of breathtaking generosity"
RUTH WHIPPMAN, author of America the Anxious
‘Pragya Agarwal is one of our most important writers and thinkers on race and gender. The more we might think that we don't need her ideas, the more likely it is that we do.’
CARIAD LLOYD, comedian, screenwriter and host of podcast Grief Cast
‘I love Pragya’s mind, we’re lucky to have her writing. A truly vital and important book’
LAURA DOCKRILL, poet and author of What Have I Done?
‘A bold, honest and investigative book that aims to empower, educate and normalise much needed conversations surrounding parenthood, the body and all the bits in between. Smashing stigmas and breaking the silence through the beauty of both science and poetry.’
MEAGHAN O'CONNELL, Features Editor at Romper, and author of And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready
‘Pragya Agarwal brings new depths and fierce intelligence to the motherhood story. By never shying away from the big questions, (M)otherhood captures the true complexity of identity — across cultures, life phases, politics, and personal history.'
DAISY BUCHANAN, author of How to be a Grown Up and Insatiable
‘'Courageous, tender, painfully resonant and beautifully written - this is such a wise and generous exploration of womanhood and identity, and deserves to be read as widely as possible.'
ABOUT THE BOOK
In a world where women have more choices than ever, society nevertheless continues to exert the stigma and pressures of less enlightened times when it comes to having children. We define women by whether they embrace or reject motherhood; whether they can give birth or not.
Behavioural Scientist Pragya Agarwal uses her own varied experiences and choices as a woman of South Asian heritage to examine the broader societal, historical and scientific factors that drive how we think and talk about motherhood. She looks at how women's bodies have been monitored and controlled through history, and how this shapes the political constructs of motherhood and womanhood now.
Extremely open in its honesty and meticulously researched, (M)otherhood probes themes of infertility, childbirth and reproductive justice, and makes a powerful and urgent argument for the need to tackle society's obsession with women's bodies and fertility.