When Helen Jukes falls pregnant, she does what anyone else would do. She searches for information to help make sense of the changes underway inside her. But as the months pass and her body becomes increasingly strange, the pregnancy guides seem insufficient; even the advice of her friends feels oppressive.
So she widens her frame of reference, looking beyond humans to ask what motherhood looks like in other species. Here she begins a process of wilder enquiry, in which stories of spiders, polar bears, bonobos and burying beetles (among others) begin to unsettle and expand her notion of what mothering is; what it could be.
To celebrate the release, Helen is coming to Stockport on Friday 28th March to chat motherhood in the animal kingdom with Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun and The Instant.
Tickets for the event are £5 and include a free drink on arrival. Grab yours here.
Doors from 6.30.
This project was part funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Mother Animal is published on 27th February.