*A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR* *Longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for
Non-Fiction* 'The best book I've ever read about motherhood' Jude Rogers Observer 'I
kept scribbling in the margins: 'We need to know this stuff!'' Joanna Pocock Spectator A
radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind brain
and body During pregnancy childbirth and early motherhood women undergo a far-reaching
physiological psychological and social metamorphosis. There is no other time in a human's
life course that entails such dramatic change-other than adolescence. And yet this
life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science medicine and philosophy. Its
seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about
motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains for the most part taboo. In
this ground-breaking deeply personal investigation acclaimed journalist and author Lucy Jones
brings to light the emerging concept of 'matrescence'. Drawing on new research across various
fields - neuroscience and evolutionary biology psychoanalysis and existential therapy
sociology economics and ecology - Jones shows how the changes in the maternal mind brain and
body are far more profound wild and enduring than we have been led to believe. She reveals the
dangerous consequences of our neglect of the maternal experience and interrogates the
patriarchal and capitalist systems that have created the untenable situation mothers face
today. Here is an urgent examination of the modern institution of motherhood which seeks to
unshackle all parents from oppressive social norms. As it deepens our understanding of
matrescence it raises vital questions about motherhood and femininity interdependence and
individual identity as well as about our relationships with each other and the living world.
