Motherhood Missed
On sale
10th September 2018
Price: £15.99
Many women expect to become mothers but are childless through social rather than biological reasons – perhaps they haven’t met the right person or they prioritised career or education earlier in life. Featuring international interviews by grief counsellor and researcher Lois Tonkin, this collection of first-person stories provides insight into the under-discussed situation of being childless by circumstance.
Each story highlights the different aspects of being childless by circumstance, as women move through their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and beyond their ages of fertility. The book explores feelings of grief and loss, and also how women adapt positively to their changed life expectations, finding excitement in the alternative, rich and complex shapes their lives have taken.
Each story highlights the different aspects of being childless by circumstance, as women move through their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and beyond their ages of fertility. The book explores feelings of grief and loss, and also how women adapt positively to their changed life expectations, finding excitement in the alternative, rich and complex shapes their lives have taken.
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Reviews
With love and care, Lois Tonkin has weaved an incredibly important book. This is the story of what it means to be a woman today - whether or not you have children. But for those women who are childless not by choice, the stories told here will help them to realise that they are not alone - that, in fact, they are part of a social phenomenon which is changing the way the world looks today. It is something that everyone needs to understand better, and Lois' book plays a vital part in achieving that. I thank and salute her.
I nodded "yes, yes" as I read the stories Lois Tonkin has collected from women, like me, who are childless by circumstance. With candor, they articulate the self-blame, social isolation, layers of intangible losses, and indescribable grief we experience. Finally, we are no longer invisible, no longer alone.
Sadness, regret, happiness, acceptance and grief are all here in equal measures. As I read each story I feel amongst those whose hearts I recognise and understand. These women may be strangers but they feel like friends. I feel safe in their circle.