Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood

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Jones sheds light on the trauma faced by new mothers, whilst describing the failings of Western Society when it comes to supporting mothers throughout their journey. We specialise in hard to find and international magazine titles including Apartamento, L'Étiquette, Popeye and Gentlewoman along with a range of fiction and non-fiction books from a wide range of independent publishers. And yet this life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science, medicine and philosophy.

It’s therapy in a book but it’s also so much more as it blends genres: social critic, memoir, science report and even poetry. This is a particularly valuable read if you've had a traumatic birth experience, if you're feeling alone, or if you believe you're failing yourself and/or your child. Creative, easy and free child-led activities to deepen the connection with the living world, from wild art to simple fires, potions, foraging and make-believe. Amazing book - one of the first books I’ve read that contains really convincing accounts of pregnancy and early motherhood written by someone who gets it.

There were times when I found it nearly impossible to read, and other times I found it impossible to put down. Her fascinating exploration of the new science of our connection to the natural world emphasises the untold psychological cost of environmental degradation and climate catastrophe. A phrase far too often used, but this is ‘essential reading’ for everyone - not just mothers or fathers or care-givers, but everyone. This book is the kind of book we must ensure every one of us reads; every single person sharing this earth side by side with our kin of every form.

Most importantly, it gave me a framework and vocabulary for my own experience of matrescence and the tremendous changes that pregnancy, birth, and motherhood bring.It's a simple message but Lucy Jones looks at it by using so many interesting and diverse ideas and places that it always stays vital. What I found instead was a boundary-pushing book that is altogether tricksier, more complex and creative, transcending even the “part-memoir, part-critical analysis” genre that has become such a commonplace format for female authors in recent years. I wouldn’t have wanted to read this brutally honest book whilst pregnant (or attempting to be…); but 23 years later can say that so much resonated. In meticulous detail, Jones quests to bring us an impressive array of answers to the question of whether “nature connection” has a tangible effect on our minds, and how, and why? Experimental flourishes in her text – alongside all that beautiful, accessible writing – also add to its majesty.

By the time I'd read the sixth, I was wanting to break prisoners out of cells and onto the mossy moors. By exploring matrescence – the physical, physiological and psychological process of becoming a mother – within this wider context of the natural world, Jones recalibrates ideas of how women are meant to exist and behave during these fast-changing years.

A take-no-prisoners tour-de-force, providing insightful criticism of every social/cultural paradigm surrounding pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding/motherhood in the West. I’m so glad that it exists during a time when I’m in my own early matrescence, because so much of what’s in it has been a comfort and reassurance to me. 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. Jones never becomes bogged down in the material, which is quite an achievement considering its scope.