Reading and writing about family dynamics, particularly Black families, has always appealed to me. Particularly when it comes to the generation gap between parents and their children that causes them to see the same world through different lenses. Who we choose to see as our true family, the ones who define the place we call home, may or may not be defined by blood. I am fortunate not to have personally experienced most of the drama and trauma found in novels that I am drawn to, and in stories I have felt compelled to write. Otherwise, I would have turned to memoir writing rather than fiction.
Brit Bennett writes with a steady hand as she immerses us into the minds and lives of three people. Nadia and Aubrey are haunted to womanhood by maternal abandonment. They are friends as well as rivals for the affection of the same man. Luke would have made a mother out of Nadia had they chosen to parent, and he eventually makes a wife and mother of Aubrey. His mother is the first lady of the church that plays a prominent role in their lives. The mothers in Bennett's exceptional novel are hurt and betrayed by callous men and by each other. I rooted for each of them to persevere, but like many of my favorite novels, this is not a happily ever after for everyone type of story.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half.
The Mothers is a dazzling debut about young love, a big secret in a small community and the moments that haunt us most.
All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.
It's the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takesâŚ
I am a marital therapist with thirty-five years of experience helping couples fall back in love and deal with the fall out from infidelity. I trained with RELATE â the UKâs largest couple counselling charity â and have a private practice in Berlin and lead a team of therapists based in the UK. I have heard over a thousand couples argue â more often than not â about their children. So I am always looking for books that will give a wider perspective and practical advice on how to be a parent without exhausting your marriage and forgetting to still be lovers.
There are plenty of âhow toâ books on being a mother but this looks at how having children changes you and what you learn about yourself. What makes this book profoundly helpful is that Lisa in a Jungian Analyst and she is not afraid to look at the dark as well as the light side of mothering. In my podcast, The Meaningful Life with Andrew G Marshall she talked about the moments where she crossed a line with her son and daughter and how owning ALL parts of you helps you learn and grow.
Motherhood is the true hero's journey-which is to say that it can be as harrowing as it is joyful, and enlightening as it is exhausting. For Jungian psychoanalyst Lisa Marchiano, this journey is not just an adventure of diaper bags and parent-teacher conferences, but one of intense self-discovery.
In Motherhood, Marchiano draws from a deep well of Jungian analysis and symbolic research to present a collection of fairytales, myths, and fables that evoke the spiritual arc of raising a child from infancy through adulthood. After all, this kind of storytelling has always been one of the most important conduits ofâŚ
The Expert Guide to Fertility
by
Joseph S. Sanfilippo,
This is an essential guide to understanding fertility and improving your pregnancy chances.
The journey to fertility can be daunting and filled with obstacles. In The Expert Guide to Fertility, OB-GYNs Joseph S. Sanfilippo, MD, MBA, and Aarti Kumar, MD, offer the information you need in your journey toâŚ
Iâve been an avid reader since childhood. I read almost all genres, but my favorite type of book has always been the kind that you associate with a beach bag and a lazy day of reading in the sun (and maybe even a beverage nearby with a tiny umbrella). I love books that provide a realistic escape, where I can lose myself in the descriptions of picturesque scenery and flawed but lovable characters. Not surprisingly, these are also the types of books Iâve chosen to write. I want to give readers the same joy of sitting back on a chaise lounge with a piĂąa colada (perhaps metaphorically) and disappearing into the fictional world Iâve created.
Something Blue has some of the best possible ingredients for a great womenâs fiction novelâforgiveness, personal transformation, friendship that blossoms into more, and the icing on the cake is that itâs set in London! The book focuses primarily on Darcy, who finds herself alone and friendless for the first time in her life. Sheâs not particularly likable at the beginning of the novel. Still, Giffin does an excellent job of making the reader connect with Darcy, invest in her transformation, and root for a happy ending. Although I donât have much in common with Darcy, her experiences with pregnancy and childbirth in London caused me to reminisce about my own time living in London and the birth of my first child there. Due to the beautiful descriptions of the setting and the subject matter, it was like a walk down memory lane when I read Something Blue.Â
From the New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed comes a novel that shows how someone with a âperfect life' can lose it allâand then find everything.
Darcy Rhone thought she had it all figured out: the more beautiful the girl, the more charmed her life. Never mind substance. Never mind playing by the rules. Never mind karma.
But Darcy's neat, perfect world turns upside down when her best friend, Rachel, the plain-Jane "good girl," steals her fiancĂŠ, while Darcy finds herself completely alone for the first time in her lifeâŚwith a baby on the way.
Iâm a multi-award-winning film and television producer; before that, I was a theatre director. Iâve spent my life telling stories, whether through theatre plays or television dramas. It doesnât matter if youâre watching a TV drama or reading a book; the same rules apply to creating a great story. It needs compelling characters, an intriguing plot, and a strong sense of place. I love the murder/mystery genre, and nearly all the books I read fall into this category, so itâs no surprise that the first book Iâve written is a cosy crime.Â
This is the book that got me hooked on reading. Iâve recommended it to loads of people and theyâve all loved it. Itâs a truly addictive read.
When Saffronâs beloved Gran, Rose, moves into a care home because of dementia, a pregnant Saffron and her boyfriend, Tom, go to live at 9 Skeleton Place. Having watched too many house makeover TV programmes and not being too keen on the wallpaper, they decide to renovate the old place. Their hopes of creating a dream home are shattered when they discover two dead bodies buried in the garden.
What has Granny been hiding? Will she be able to remember? Wishing they hadnât dug up the garden, Saffron and Tom dig up the past before the police incarcerate dear old granny.Â
It was the house of their dreams. Now it's their worst nightmare . . .
'Spine-chilling' SUNDAY TIMES 'A well-plotted tale . . . Intriguing. Twisty. Surprising. Touching' DOROTHY KOOMSON 'Secrets, skeletons, mothers and daughters - and some absolutely corking twists! A cracking thriller, I loved it' EVE CHASE _________
BODIES FOUND UNDER PATIO
When pregnant Saffron Cutler moves into 9 Skelton Place with boyfriend Tom and sets about renovations, the last thing she expects is builders uncovering a body. Two bodies, in fact.
POLICE INVESTIGATE
Forensics indicate the bodies have been buried at least thirty years, which leads theâŚ
I grew up on farms, and have experienced the undercurrents that exist in small villages, which is why I like crime novels with rural settings. I worked as a couple counsellor for a while, which taught me that no fictional character can quite equal the real quirks and inconsistencies of real peopleâbut I love those books which get close. Charles Dickens probably does it best! In my own novels I try to achieve something approaching this, in characters who break away from stereotypes and behave unpredictably. I like to think I manage to be witty sometimes, tooâI really love humour, especially when itâs wordplay or subtly ironic.
This book caught my attention because it involves a house-sitter, just as my series does. But Moragâs story could not be more different. It depicts a terrible sequence of events arising from an innocent house-sitting assignment and a growing love for the place, which I as a reader very much shared. The house itself becomes both the setting and the main threat to the well-being of the âhalf-brokenâ characters. The story is hauntingly compelling, the characters deeply likeable, and the writing a real delight. This has been one of my great favourites ever since I first read it.
A gripping tale of psychological suspense perfect for the readership of Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell, Half Broken Things is a novel that peers into the lives of three dangerously lost peopleâŚand the ominous haven they find when they find each other.
Jean is a house sitter at the end of a dreary career. Steph is nine months pregnant and on the run. And Michael is a thief. Through a mixture of deceit, good luck, and misfortune, these three damaged loners have come together at a secluded country home called Walden Manor. Now all three have found what they neededâŚ
After giving birth in the hospital four times in what I experienced as âassembly-line obstetrics,â I decided that my fifth child would be intentionally born at home with just me and my husband present. It forever changed our lives and Iâve been an advocate since 1998, with the publication of Unassisted Homebirth: An Act of Love. Iâm considered a pioneer in the unassisted birth community. Women are disappointed and disillusioned with their birth experiences and I help put to rest the idea of a painful, discouraging birth experience, replacing it with the manifestation of your inner desires. A satisfying and successful birth is within reach.
When my husband and I were preparing for our unassisted homebirth, we had two books by our nightstand: Birth and the Dialogue of Love, and Emergency Childbirth. Emergency Childbirth was originally published by the Police Training Foundation and was used by emergency medical technicians for unexpected childbirth situations. One part of the book explained what to do if a baby is coming quickly and stated that any normal eight-year-old could handle it.Â
Emergency Childbirth is a manual when a baby arrives unexpectedly. Originally published by the Police Training Foundation. This is extremely helpful when a baby arrives and there is no further resources available.
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail toâŚ
I began writing The Way I Used to Be back in 2010. For me, it started simply as a place to work through my own private thoughts and feelings about sexual violence. I was writing as a survivor myself, but also as someone who has known, loved, and cared for so many others who have experienced violence and abuse. By the time I finished, I realized my novel had evolved into something much bigger: a story I hoped could contribute something meaningful to the larger dialogue. These powerful books on this list are all a part of that dialogue, each based in a richly diverse, yet shared reality. Readers will learn, grow, heal, and find hope in these pages.
Learning to Breathe tells such an important side of the #MeToo Movement, with sixteen-year-old Indira (Indy), a Black Bahamian girl who struggles to find her place in the aftermath of an assault that leads to an unwanted pregnancy. Set in the Bahamas, a place so often portrayed in Western culture as idyllic, it depicts a very different gritty and authentic lived reality for the main character. This heart-rending, yet empowering novel is enlightening on so many levels. Not only does it offer the unique and all-too-often overlooked point of view of a young person of color, but it also deals with complex family issues, homelessness, and a young womanâs path to claiming power over her own body and future.Â
A 2019 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection Amelia Bloomer Listâs 2019 Top Ten Recommended Feminist Books for Young Readers A Governor Generalâs Literary Award Finalist A Junior Library Guild Selection A Sheila A. Egoff Childrenâs Literature Prize Semifinalist A BC Book Prize Finalist
âA love letter to girlsâbittersweet and full of hope.â âIbi Zoboi, author of National Book Award Finalist American Street âThis is a stellar debut.â âBrandy Colbert, award-winning author of Little & Lion and Pointe âA vibrant, essential story of healing, resilience, and finding oneâs family.â âStephanie Kuehn, author of William C. Morris Award winning CharmâŚ
My background is in computer science, specifically artificial intelligence. As a student, I was most interested in how our knowledge of the human brain could inform AI and vice versa. As such, I read as much neuroscience and psychology as I could and spent a lot of time thinking about how our minds create reality out of our senses. I always appreciate a novel that explores the fluidity of reality.
False Pregnancy, a mysterious and fascinating condition, is a topic of The End of Miracles, written by a psychiatrist who has witnessed the condition up close.
The novel examines how unfulfilled desire can meet with mental illness (or perhaps lead to mental illness) and alter our perceptions in ways that can have outsized effects on our behavior. The tale is told with great sympathy and respect for its protagonist and has no shortage of surprising twists.
International Book Awards 2016 finalist for literary fiction
The End of Miracles is a twisting, haunting story about the drastic consequences of a frustrated obsession.
A woman with a complex past wants nothing more than to become a mother, but struggles with infertility and miscarriage. She is temporarily comforted by a wish-fulfilling false pregnancy, but when reality inevitably dashes that fantasy, she falls into a depression so deep she must be hospitalized. The sometimes-turbulent environment of the psychiatry unit rattles her and makes her fear for her sanity, and she flees. Outside, she impulsively commits a startling act with harrowingâŚ
When I was a young mom, I had questions: Why wonât my baby sleep? Are all these hiccups normal? Am I doing the best I can for my child? I wanted answers. So, I read lots of books and learned as much as I could. While no book can give you all the answers for your unique child, reading some good ones can take some of the mystery out of parenting.
The month-by-month format allows parents to take one step at a time. Topics covered include sleep training, green parenting, preparing homemade baby food, and the impact of screen time. Itâs nice because as busy, sleep-deprived parents, you can read a little at a time to get what you need.
With over 11 million copies in print, What to Expect: The First Year, now in a completely revised third edition, is the worldâs best-selling, best-loved guide to the instructions that babies donât come with, but should. And now, itâs better than ever. Every parentâs must-have/go-to is completely updated.
Keeping the trademark month-by-month format that allows parents to take the potentially overwhelming first year one step at a time, First Year is easier-to-read, faster-to-flip-through, and new-family-friendlier than everâpacked with even more practical tips, realistic advice, and relatable, accessible information than before. Illustrations are new, too.
Among the changes: Baby care fundamentalsâcribâŚ
I wear many hats in my life, but none matter as much as the hat: mama. As a clairaudient medium who works first-hand with mothers on their spiritual journeys, I feel as though I know what spiritually conscious parents hope to find and be moved by in the books they read because I know what my spirit needs during this wild and overwhelming adventure called motherhood. It can be an isolating path to walk, and these books not only felt like a helping hand during the rockiest moments but also like a warm hug when I needed it most.Â
This book catapulted me into a deep dive into all the spiritual aspects of the motherhood journey and brought out the miracle-making goddess within me!
I found myself wholly moved and eager to dive into learning to communicate with my unborn child. I read it while pregnant, but I wish I had found it earlier; it would have helped me navigate this new adventure with so much more confidence and feel even more spiritually connected during pregnancy.
This book will absolutely change your life, whether you want to conceive, are pregnant, or are already a mother.Â
Am I Meant to Become a Parent? Why Canât I Conceive? What Is My Unborn Child Trying to Tell Me?
In this reassuring, supportive, and accessible book, leading clairvoyant and medium Walter Makichen offers guidance to prospective parents eager to create a warm, nurturing environment for their soon-to-be-conceived-or-born children. Applying the wisdom and insights he has gained through twenty years of communicating with these spirit babies, Makichen helps you resolve issues about starting a familyâŚactively participate in the psychic process of creating a childâŚand move past your worries and fears about becoming parents. From the seven essential chakras that linkâŚ
