Back in 2018, roughly a year after I started writing this blog, I started to wonder if I should put everything I was learning about miscarriage – the hard way – into a book.
Five years later, that book was published. Life, Almost: Miscarriage, misconceptions, and a search for answers from the brink of motherhood is the book I wish I’d had after my first miscarriage (and after my second, third, and fourth…)
Part memoir, part scientific exploration, as well as telling my own story, I interviewed more than 20 different experts – obstetricians, early pregnancy researchers, nurses, embryologists, anthropologists, psychologists – to try to make sense of the many, many questions I had.
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 was the bleeding I had during early pregnancy dismissed as ‘probably nothing to worry about’?
Why did I have to wait until my third miscarriage for any sort of medical care?
Why, when I finally did get some investigations, weren’t there any evidence-based treatments that might help?
Why, as far as my test results suggested, was there no obvious reason for my losses?
Why is miscarriage still treated as a minor thing, when it is pushing me to the edge of my sanity?
If you are here because you have also found yourself asking these questions, I am so very sorry. Perhaps what I found on my own quest for answers can help, just a little. If only to make you feel a little less alone. Published by Transworld in the UK (this felt like a kind of victory in itself – that such a mainstream publisher was paying attention to this subject) Life, Almost is out now, in hardback, audiobook, and ebook. Readers outside of the UK can order it here, with free international shipping.
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.’ ★★★★★
The Uterus Monologues: Miscarriage, motherhood and me 