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After the Storm

Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of New Motherhood

Cover of the paperback edition of 'After the Storm' by Emma Jane Unsworth

How did it come to this? I am tough, I am smart, I have lived alone. Now I am cracking, right down the middle…

Six months after the birth of her son, Emma Jane Unsworth finds herself in the eye of a storm. Nothing – from pregnancy to birth and beyond – has gone as she expected. A birth plan? It might as well have been a rough draft! Furious and exhausted, she realises her life is the complete opposite of what it used to be. She’s swapped all-night benders for grazed labia and Whac-a-Moling haemorrhoids. How did she end up here?

In this brave and hilarious account of postnatal depression, Emma tells her story of despair and recovery. She tackles the biggest taboos around motherhood and mental health, from botched stitches and bleeding nipples to anger and shame. How do our brains adapt to pregnancy? Is postnatal depression a natural reaction to the trauma of modern motherhood? And are people’s attitudes finally changing?

Dazzling and vital, ‘After the Storm’ is a celebration of survival, holding out a hand to women everywhere.

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Date published
Format
Paperback
Extent
176 pages
ISBN
9781788166553

About the author

Black and white photograph of Emma Jane Unsworth

Emma Jane Unsworth

Emma Jane Unsworth is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, ‘Animals’, is now a major motion picture, for which Unsworth wrote the screenplay. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. She also writes for television and various magazines. Her latest novel, ‘Adults’, has been heralded as “hilarious” (Dolly Alderton), “tender” (Jessie Burton) and “dazzling” (Marian Keyes), and is a Sunday Times bestseller.