Matrescence
- Author Lucy Jones
- Narrator Lucy Jones
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Run Time 10 hours and 4 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Family and health, Gender studies: women and girls, Human biology, Pregnancy, birth and baby care: advice and issues, Society and Social Sciences, Women’s health.
Titles Purchased
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Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
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Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
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.
©2023 Lucy Jones (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
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The best book I’ve ever read about motherhood … Myths are smashed from page one … Experimental flourishes – alongside all that beautiful, accessible writing – add to its majesty. Matrescence is essential reading, bloody and alive, roaring and ready to change conversations
Observer -
I kept scribbling in the margins: ‘We need to know this stuff!’ … An important addition to the literature of motherhood … [It is] wide-ranging in its scope, packed with statistics about mental health, new studies on the rewiring of women’s brains after childbirth and the presence of foetal cells in our bodies … Jones seems to come as close as it’s possible to describing this indescribable moment in a woman’s life
Spectator -
A wild and beautiful book … a book that will be passed among friends and will no doubt bring solace … Reading this, I felt a jolt of recognition … more than six years later I can still feel the searing, silencing shame. I wish someone could have handed me Matrescence
New Statesman -
An exploration of the contrast between myth and reality and between individual and social expectations … Jones writes beautifully and with searing honesty about the life-changing physical and emotional impact of having a child
The Times -
A vital, hopeful book … to read Matrescence is to emerge chastened and ready for change
i News -
Beautiful and creative … Jones is a pioneer … she skilfully elucidates the monumental shifts motherhood brings … I found myself inwardly cheering
Guardian
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