Dead Babies and Seaside Towns

Dead Babies and Seaside Towns
Author: Alice Jolly
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2015
Genre: Authors, English
ISBN: 1783521058

The world of dead babies is a silent and shuttered place. You do not know it exists until you find yourself there. When Alice Jolly's second child was stillborn and all subsequent attempts to have another baby failed, she began to consider every possible option, no matter how unorthodox. Dead Babies and Seaside Towns is a savagely personal account of the search for an alternative way to create a family. As she battles through miscarriage, IVF and failed adoption attempts, Alice's only solace from the pain is the faded charm of Britain's crumbling seaside towns. Finally, this search leads her and her husband to a small town in Minnesota, and two remarkable women who offer to make the impossible possible. In this beautiful book, shot through with humour and full of hope, Alice Jolly describes with a novelist's skill events that woman live through every day âe" even if many feel compelled to keep them hidden. Her decision not to hide but to share them, without a trace of sentiment or self-pity, turns Dead Babies and Seaside Towns into a universal story: one that begins in tragedy but ends in joy.

Dead Babies and Seaside Towns

Dead Babies and Seaside Towns
Author: Alice Jolly
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2015-07-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1783521600

When Alice Jolly's second child was stillborn and all subsequent attempts to have another baby failed, she began to consider every possible option, no matter how unorthodox. Shot through with humour and full of hope, Dead Babies and Seaside Towns is an intensely personal account of the search for an alternative way to create a family. As she battles through miscarriage, IVF and failed adoption attempts, Alice finds comfort in the faded charm of Britain's crumbling seaside towns. The journey ultimately leads her and her husband to a small town in Minnesota, and to two remarkable women who offer to make the impossible possible. In this beautifully written book, Alice Jolly describes with a novelist's skill the events that many others have lived through – even if they may feel compelled to keep them hidden. Her decision not to hide but to share them, without a trace of self-pity, turns Dead Babies and Seaside Towns into a universal story: one that begins in tragedy but ends in joy.

Another Mother

Another Mother
Author: Shanta Everington
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2023-06-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000888703

Another Mother gives voice to women who become mothers through the routes of adoption, surrogacy and egg donation, and their silent partners – the birth mothers, surrogate mothers and egg donors – who make motherhood possible for them. Exploring experiences of motherhood beyond the biological mother raising her child, Everington draws on interviews and a range of interdisciplinary approaches to produce illuminating personal testimonies which expand our understanding of what it means to be a mother. The life writing narratives also examine the unique and hidden relationships that exist between adopters and birth mothers, egg donors and women who become mothers through egg donation, and surrogates and women who become mothers through surrogacy. Offering a fresh approach to life writing, using hybrid form encompassing edited interview, re-imagined scenes, poetry, personal essay and quotation collage, this topical book is recommended for anyone interested in motherhood studies, gender and women’s studies, life writing studies, the sociology of reproduction, creative non-fiction writing approaches, oral history and ethnography studies.

Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile

Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile
Author: Alice Jolly
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2018-06-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1783525509

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019 Longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2019 2019 Walter Scott Prize Academy recommendation If you tell a story oft enough So it become true As the nineteenth century draws towards a close, Mary Ann Sate, an elderly maidservant, sets out to write her truth. She writes of the Valleys that she loves, of the poisonous rivalry between her employer's two sons and of a terrible choice which tore her world apart. Her haunting and poignant story brings to life a period of strife and rapid social change, and evokes the struggles of those who lived in poverty and have been forgotten by history. In this fictional found memoir, novelist Alice Jolly uses the astonishing voice of Mary Ann to recreate history as seen from a woman's perspective and to give joyful, poetic voice to the silenced women of the past.

The Outrun: A Memoir

The Outrun: A Memoir
Author: Amy Liptrot
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2017-04-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393609006

“It’s wild writing: sexy, unguarded, raw, and ardent … highly recommended.”—The Millions After a decade of heavy partying and hard drinking in London, Amy Liptrot returns home to Orkney, a remote island off the north of Scotland. The Outrun maps Amy’s inspiring recovery as she walks along windy coasts, swims in icy Atlantic waters, tracks Orkney’s wildlife, and reconnects with her parents, revisiting and rediscovering the place that shaped her. A Guardian Best Nonfiction Book of 2016 Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller New Statesman Book of the Year

No One Talks About This Stuff

No One Talks About This Stuff
Author: Kat Brown
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2024-03-21
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1800182880

'Will allow you to find the peace, the rage, the acceptance, the anger, the love, the hatred, the joy and the connection that we all need to be allowed to feel' Pippa Vosper, author of Beyond Grief No One Talks About This Stuff is a support group for almost-parents: it is a place to share journeys of loss and limbo, to confront social pressure and to find courage in the darkness of tragedies which happen every day yet are brushed under the carpet. So, we hear from a stepmother who wrestles with infertility. A husband and wife each tell their experience of losing their baby. A lesbian comes of age at a time when gay people rarely become parents. A father finds loss to be his unlikely superpower. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder impacts a person’s choices about having a family. A black woman unpacks ancestral shame while finding renewed purpose. And each person shares how they lived through it. This captivatingly beautiful, profound and honest anthology opens a much-needed conversation about society, family and honouring the missing children we will never forget. 'Each generously shared experience powerfully validates and chips away at shame, as it speaks the truth of hoping, waiting, losing, loving and questioning' Anna Mathur, bestselling author of Know Your Worth 'The voices of the contributors are necessarily varied, but they are unified by fascinating and moving insights' Julia Bueno, author of The Brink of Being

A Mighty Boy

A Mighty Boy
Author: Sarah Pullen
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2017-08-17
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1783523859

Silas is ten years old when the headaches start. When the diagnosis arrives, his parents are told they have until Christmas... maybe. And so begins Sarah Pullen’s battle to save her son, against doubting doctors and insurmountable odds. This story about love and loss traces her family’s journey from that first day at the hospital, battling a tumour they named ‘Bob’, through Silas’s death and beyond. This profoundly moving and honest account shows that it is possible to find the strength for a journey that no mother should ever go on; that it is possible to find a new way to live, even when death is knocking on the door. It is about confronting grief – raw, ugly, incomprehensible grief. It is a book about wrapping a small boy in love, but still letting him get grubby knees. It is about learning to savour every moment of the here and now, yet also learning to let go. At its heart, A Mighty Boy is a story of the love between a mother and a son. It is a book about seizing the moment and somehow managing to survive the death of a child. But most of all it is a book about a small, mighty, smiling boy.

The Best Short Stories 2021

The Best Short Stories 2021
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593311264

Twenty prizewinning stories selected from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year—continuing the O. Henry Prize's century-long tradition of literary excellence. "Widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction." —The Atlantic Monthly. Now entering its second century, the prestigious annual story anthology has a new title, a new look, and a new guest editor. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and young emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Adichie, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction. Featured in this collection: Daphne Palasi Andreades • David Means • Sindya Bhanoo • Crystal Wilkinson • Alice Jolly • David Rabe • Karina Sainz Borgo (translator, Elizabeth Bryer) • Jamel Brinkley • Tessa Hadley • Adachioma Ezeano • Anthony Doerr • Tiphanie Yanique • Joan Silber • Jowhor Ile • Emma Cline • Asali Solomon • Ben Hinshaw • Caroline Albertine Minor (translator, Caroline Waight) • Jianan Qian • Sally Rooney

Coping with Pregnancy Loss

Coping with Pregnancy Loss
Author: Petra Boynton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 135169247X

Pregnancy loss can leave us with many unanswered questions, and knowing where to find answers is not always clear. This book is for you if, like me, you’ve been affected by any kind of pregnancy loss – currently or in the past. It provides practical advice and self-care strategies to help you cope during or after loss, alongside ideas that will enable you to make sense of what’s happened – including understanding your feelings and choices; outlining what you can expect during and after your loss; ways to navigate physical and mental health care (if appropriate); and thinking about how to remember your baby. It’s for charities, support groups, therapists, and healthcare professionals who want to provide support and care. We all react – and cope with loss – in different ways, and this book respects diverse needs when it comes to getting information and help. You don’t have to feel like you are going through your loss alone. In this book you’ll find reflection exercises, self-help resources, and stories and suggestions from other people about how they survived, which should leave you feeling more confident and better able to seek additional support if you need it.

What the Eye Doesn't See

What the Eye Doesn't See
Author: Alice Jolly
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2018-06-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1912618982

Disgraced Tory politician, Max, is unable to shake off the whiff of scandal following the suspicious death of his best friend's wife. His daughter, Maggie, believes she witnessed something which confirms Max's guilt – but she has told no one what she saw that terrible night. Max's mother, Nanda, living an unconventional life in a ramshackle cottage in Gloucestershire, observes it all with the detachment of one who is nearing her death. As these three characters move through a crucial few months, events unfold in their alternating voices, and so the truth behind the headlines gradually emerges. In this assured and acute observation of ordinary lives under extraordinary pressure, Alice Jolly explores the complex nature of the bond between mother and son, father and daughter, and examines what happens when that bond is stretched to breaking point and the most basic loyalties are called into question.