Life, Almost
Miscarriage, misconceptions, and a search for answers from the brink of motherhood
Why don’t we know more about miscarriage? Why are we told miscarriage can’t be prevented when half of all miscarriages are of perfectly healthy embryos? Why is it normal not to tell anyone you’re pregnant for the first three months? Why don’t we know why labour starts?
Part-memoir, part-scientific investigation, Life, Almost documents my path to motherhood and my search for answers after recurrent miscarriages. Tracing each tentative step of my fifth pregnancy, I aim to dismantle the myths that we unquestioningly accept about our reproductive lives.
As well as telling my own story, I interview more than 20 different experts – obstetricians, early pregnancy researchers, nurses, embryologists, anthropologists, psychologists – to try to make sense of an experience that is still so poorly understood.
Life, Almost is out now, in hardback, audiobook, and ebook.
Praise for Life, Almost…
‘A vital new examination of the subject’ – Guardian
‘This book is smart, tender and clear-eyed in its investigation of miscarriage, an experience that is so common and yet so little understood. It answers so many of the questions I had when I miscarried and just felt badly informed and hopeless. The perfect combination of informed personal experience and practical journalistic research. Highly recommended.’ – Viv Groskop, author of How to Own the Room
‘Life, Almost is both a vital piece of journalism and a heart-wrenchingly intimate memoir. This is the miscarriage manifesto we need,’ – Leah Hazard, midwife and Sunday Times best-selling author of Hard Pushed.
‘Urgent, fascinating, and thought-provoking,’ – Julia Bueno, psychotherapist and author of The Brink Of Being
‘A thoughtfully researched and beautifully written book’ – Pippa Vosper, author of Beyond Grief
‘Beautiful, powerful and important … Essential reading for anyone who lives in a world where miscarriage happens – a book for us all’ – Georgina Lucas, author of If Not For You
What readers are saying…
‘This book felt like a healing balm’ ★★★★★
‘…blowing the doors off this subject that is so often shrouded in secrecy, shame and silence.’ ★★★★★
‘After finishing it I felt less alone, more hopeful, and also so much better equipped to have conversations about miscarriage’ ★★★★★
‘This book articulates so many things I’ve felt and experienced but not know how to put into words.’ ★★★★★
‘If you or anyone you know has been through miscarriage or recurrent loss, I urge you to read this book.’ ★★★★★