Sad Mum Lady by Ashe Davenport

Sad Mum Lady by Ashe Davenport

In her first book, Sad Mum Lady, author, mother and blogger Ashe Davenport chronicles her struggles with pregnancy, motherhood, and pre- and postpartum depression, while examining the historic and persistent undervaluation of the institution of motherhood itself. She does this by way of a non-linear, non-fiction narrative that is equal parts poignant and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.

Davenport recounts her experiences with clarity, forthrightness and economy, and the social and political commentary she weaves throughout the book never appear self-righteous, out-of-place or irrelevant. Her writing style is excellently vivid, her observations, sharp, and her figures of speech, abundantly fresh.

While jumping between past and present can often deliver a narrative that is clunky and inarticulate, Davenport's ease with the non-linear narrative makes it a breeze to follow. She gives written expression to her thoughts in such a thematically consistent way that it guides you through her mental journey, helping you to form and understand the links that she has made between her past and her present.

Sad Mum Lady is an entertaining, necessary and thought-provoking book that both parents and non-parents can enjoy. Davenport writes fiercely and earnestly, her passionate dialogue always tempered by a heavy dose of perspective that never betrays her fundamental point; that pregnancy and motherhood are massively torturous physical and mental tasks that are expected to be executed by mothers with virtual ease or else have them ‘...burn in the fires of birth shame for all eternity'.

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