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Cry When the Baby Cries

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

This is a graphic memoir (like a graphic novel, but true – and also a bit graphic).

It’s about the delirium, chaos and strangeness of becoming a parent for the first time.

It’s for every one who has ever wondered if it’s ok to cry when the baby cries – and also laugh, snort, lie on the floor naked and drool when the baby drools.

This is definitely not a parenting manual, but it might be the only book about parenting you’ll ever need.

‘By turns bloody, sweet, bleak and joyful… It is also very, very funny’ NEW STATESMAN

‘You will cry, yes, but mainly snort with laughter’ SUNDAY TIMES

'The most accurate account of becoming a parent I have ever read' PHILIPPA PERRY

'Bracingly truthful... very funny' OBSERVER

'It made me laugh, weep, cheer and howl... essential reading for parents and their peers.' NELL FRIZZELL

‘So clever, so funny, so astute, so healing. Becky Barnicoat is a stone cold genius' LUCY JONES

© Becky Barnicoat 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

No subject is for her off limits, from leaking breasts to dubious stains. But the more important thing by far is that it’s very funny and even sardonic… This is a very analogue book, somehow, and all the better and more uplifting for it. Mothers, log off! Here’s the antidote to all that striving; here is the muddle that will set your minds at rest, even if it won’t actually rock your baby to sleep.
Observer, *Graphic novel of the month*
The most accurate account of becoming a parent I have ever read. It's fabulous.
Philippa Perry, author of THE BOOK YOU WISH YOUR PARENTS HAD READ
This book is a perfect testament to the wild ride of early parenting. It's tender, moving, beautifully drawn and also, extremely hilarious. Parents everywhere: you will feel very very seen.
Isabel Greenberg, author of THE ONE HUNDRED NIGHTS OF HERO
The most hilarious, wonderful, poignant, powerful, insightful and relatable book on the wild world of early parenting I have ever read. Barnicoat's fantastic illustrations and wry humour come together to create something brilliant that I will be recommending to everyone. It made me laugh, weep, cheer and howl. It is essential reading for parents and their peers.
Nell Frizzell, author of THE PANIC YEARS
A corrective to decades of misty-eyed depictions of motherhood… bloody, sweet, bleak and joyful… Her account is intimate and granular… It is also very, very funny
New Statesman
I couldn't love this book more. So clever, so funny, so astute, so healing. Becky Barnicoat is a stone cold genius. I will put this book in the hands of every new mother I know.
Lucy Jones, author of MATRESCENCE
[A] very funny, sardonic book – an analogue antidote to the Instagram version of motherhood
Observer, *Books of the Year*
A marvel. A moving, honest memoir; a hilarious comedy routine; a parenting guide which tells you all the stuff the rest somehow seem to leave out. Above all, it is the most extraordinary masterclass in cartooning. If you know a new parent, believe me: they need this book as urgently as they need a home-made lasagne.
Stephen Collins, author of THE GIGANTIC BEARD THAT WAS EVIL
Becky’s cartoons about parenting make me cry and laugh, often simultaneously. Never self-pitying or twee, as so much writing about parenting can be. Just totally honest and wise and true.
Hadley Freeman, author of HOUSE OF GLASS
Wow! This book is stellar - brave, brutal and laugh-out-loud hilarious, yet ultimately sincere and tender. A total winner!
Joff Winterhart, author of DRIVING SHORT DISTANCES
Author Becky Barnicoat
Narrator Becky Barnicoat
Duration 2 hours and 21 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529957440
Format Audiobook
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Genre Child care and upbringing: advice for parents, Graphic novel / Comic book: humorous, Graphic novel / Comic book: memoirs, true stories and non-fiction, Graphic novels, Humour, Memoirs, Pregnancy, birth and baby care: advice and issues
Availability AU, GB, IE

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