My Wild and Sleepless Nights: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. As the mother of 2 teens I was transported back to the wonderful time when both were tiny, whilst also being accompanied through the imperfect attempts at parenting my teens. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance.

It is not a sequel exactly, but a continuation of the memoir written by Clover of her life with her husband Pete and her children, focussing on the pregnancy, birth and first year of her youngest child Lester, with her other children’s and her own life intertwined. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. However, as I started in on reading the book I was almost immediately taken in by Stroud's ability to describe everything so viscerally. Clover Stroud brought back so many memories, the good ones, and the bad ones, the happiness and joy as well as the fear and guilt you feel as a mother. Just as being fucked so hard it hurts can feel good, this pain becomes something I recognise as clearly as I know myself.

The book follows Stroud and her family through a tumultuous year, in which her fifth child, Lester, is born. Stroud was shortlisted for the Wainwright prize for nature writing for her debut memoir, The Wild Other. She is currently living in Washington DC with her husband and the youngest three of her five children. I don’t think it added to the book, it wasn’t what I was reading the book for, and I felt it would be fairly awful for her kids when one day they and their friends read it. So much spoke to my heart, it made me laugh out loud nod and agree out loud and possibly cry a little, quietly and with a mixture of joy and sadness.

Autorka měla první dítě v 16 a až když se dostala na počet pět dětí, řekla si "stačí a teď se budu věnovat sobě". I feel like the author awakened emotions in me I never knew that I had, or hadn’t felt for many many years.Stroud briskly shrugs people off when they question the practicality of having a fifth baby (“I want messy”), and cheerfully admits that in many ways another child is the last thing they all need. Raw, honest memoir exploring the authors experience of motherhood and mothering five children including a baby and a teenager all at once.

As someone with a huge maternal instinct, passion for working with children and life long aim of being a mother, I find anything about motherhood to be really interesting. When someone gives her new baby a stuffed toy monkey, she longs to surround him with more ancient and serious things: the Bible, The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ale možná jsem jen zbytečně kritická, určitě jsou tam i světlé momenty (aneb třeba se k tomu vrátím, až sama někdy budu mít děti). I feel this book contained so many of the conversations I would like to have with my mother girlfriends but yet never seem to have the time for and perhaps I lack the ability to admit some truths. Almost uncomfortably honest at times, Clover doesn’t hesitate to share the darkest and brightest moments, the impact on one’s self, one’s relationships, and one’s heart that birthing to let go can bring, and the deep heartbreaking joy that a love like no other allows those of us who are privileged to bear it.I read it because my friend recommended it to me and I’m glad she did because I did identify with various aspects of the main character. My Wild and Sleepless Nights explores what it means to be a mother: the way that children and motherhood changes women - both strengthening and weakening a woman's sense of identity. The discord between relationship with self and relationships as mother which I'm still growing into. She excels in evoking the feral, instinctive forces that motherhood unleashes, which can be so difficult to explain or describe (hence the shocked refrain of new mothers: “Nobody ever tells you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone else who loves reading about motherhood or who is already mother and wants to read about someone else's journey! I am nosy about how other women 'do' motherhood, but mainly I feel a need to share, to be seen, to speak uninhibited about the extraordinary experiences, challenges, changes being a mother brings. By the end of the book I would happily have left home, and moved in with Clover, Pete and the 5 glorious children that they bring up together! The only reason why I did not finish this in one sitting was due to the fact that I was being the very mother that seeps from the pages of this book. Reading this book is like listening to a friend who describes your own feelings, doubts and frustrations.Mother to five children, Clover Stroud has navigated family life across two decades, both losing and finding herself. Upon expecting my second baby I enjoyed reading this nothing held back, honest opinions on motherhood you often don't hear.