Breasts

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What to expect

'I LOVED this book' Nina Stibbe

'A must-read' Jessie Burton

In this short, striking memoir, Jean Hannah Edelstein charts the course of her unexpectedly brief relationship with breasts.

As she comes of age, she learns that breasts are a source of both shame and power. In early motherhood, she sees her breasts transform into a source of sustenance and a locus of pain. And then, all too soon, she is faced with a diagnosis and forced to confront what it means to lose and rebuild an essential part of yourself.

Funny and moving, elegant and furious and full of heart, Breasts is an original and indispensable read. It is both an intimate account of one woman's relationship with her own body and a universally relatable story for anyone who has ever had - or lost - breasts.

Critics Review

Jean Hannah Edelstein is a glorious writer. I LOVED this book – furious and moving and laugh-out-loud funny

Nina Stibbe, author of LOVE, NINA

In this unwavering, sharp and profoundly thoughtful memoir, Jean Hannah Edelstein unfolds her experiences, both universal and devastatingly unique, with trademark tenderness and wit . . . a must-read

Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist

Brilliant and exquisite. Nobody writes about the curveballs life throws at you, or helps you deal with them, like Jean Hannah Edelstein

David Whitehouse, author of About A Son

Absolutely loved it. Painful and funny and essential

Francesca Segal

Jean Hannah Edelstein is honest, cynical, loving and funny. Breasts is a special book – short and powerful with no messing around. For people with breasts, mothers, women with cancer, and the people who love them, it will be an indispensable read

Jessica Stanley

Unique and beautiful . . . so tender and furious and funny

Jo Cheetham, author of Killjoy

With brevity, piquancy and wit, Jean Hannah Edelstein has written a memoir that speaks directly to the public and private nature of bodies and autonomy. Her prose has the buoyancy and bravery of fellow New Yorker Laurie Colwin

Catherine Taylor, author of The Stirrings

I would read anything Jean Hannah Edelstein writes. Breasts is a thunderclap of a memoir. When I read it, in a single sitting, I was blown away. Breasts is one of those books you read and just know instantly that it’s going into the canon; it feels so urgent, and yet somehow like it’s always existed. The writing is stunning, lyrical and funny and absolutely smarting with truth. Reading it, I felt seen in a way I haven’t for a long time, and that I was being given permission to be angry about so many experiences I had dismissed or buried or been told to ignore. I love how fearlessly Edelstein writes, how she embraces contradiction, how funny she is and how deeply she feels. It is a difficult time to be a woman and books like this have never been more vital. Read it if you have breasts or if you know someone with breasts

Marianne Levy, author of Don't Forget to Scream

I loved this book. A perfect small-form memoir, it is smart, funny and heartbreaking. It has made me think again about the body and how it shapes us and our identity, and how all of a sudden it can take such a tragically different turn. It is the best account of the shock of losing your breasts to cancer I have read. Devastating, but also funny, illuminating and charming, leaving me rooting for Edelstein, and wanting to get my hands on everything else she has written

Lily Dunn, author of Sins of my Father

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