A heartfelt, reassuring and bracingly honest book about what it actually feels like to be on maternity leave, from award-winning Radio 4 Today programme broadcaster, Emma Barnett.
The essential companion for every mother embarking on maternity leave
'In one important sense maternity leave is poorly named, as it involves no actual leave. You are constantly on, even when your offspring is having a nap. There is nothing restful about it. In another sense maternity leave is aptly named, because it's a period of leave from all you know- taking leave of one's mind, body, job, and relationships'
When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you're in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as 'enjoy every minute' and 'treasure this special time', is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service.
In this warmly reassuring, refreshingly honest book, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time while on her latest tour of duty. She isn't offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about our purpose and ourselves.
About the Author
Emma Barnett is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. She was named Interviewer of the Year for 2022 at the British Journalism awards and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4's flagship Today Programme, as well as hosting TV interviews and documentaries across the BBC. She has presented programmes that include Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 and Newsnight. She also presented a global interviews programme on Bloomberg TV, interviewing international figures from across the world of politics, sport, entertainment and technology.
Emma pens a bi-weekly newspaper column for the i,and was previously a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, where she was also the Women's Editor. After the birth of her first child, she wrote Period- It's about Bloody Time, her first book.
Emma grew up in Manchester, and now lives in London with her husband and their two children.
Industry Reviews
This book is absolutely excellent. I loved every word - Claudia Winkleman
I can remember before I had a baby, wondering and wondering what it would feel like to be a mother and have a baby. Maternity Service is a companion for mothers and mothers to be who would like a bit of realistic insight into what it might be like. This lovely book will keep many a new mother company through some of the inevitable long nights of early parenting. Philippa Perry
Reassuring, funny and wise A very welcome life raft - Sophie Ellis Bextor
Women need to be prepared for motherhood, in body and in soul, and I hope Emmas book will inspire mothers to talk about their "maternity service" - Naomi Stadlen, author of What Mothers Do especially when it looks like nothing
This is the book every woman should read before they take maternity leave.
It explains how to navigate this magical but topsy turvy time in a womans life -whilst still retaining some sense of self-identity
- Anya Hindmarch
An absolute jewel of a book. Kind, funny, smart, soothing, and radical. I wish I'd had this book in my early matrescence. Emma writes so beautifully and sensitively from the oft-forgotten inside of the tender, wild months of early motherhood, and gives reassuring and practical suggestions. This book is a hot cup of tea, a steadying hand on an arm, a baton passed with care and compassion. And the correct naming of maternity "leave" as a period of service is so sorely needed; Emma has given us a new framing which rightly acknowledges the work and true nature of care-giving. I inhaled it. A true gift for mothers, and an act of service in itself. This book will change lives. - Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence
