Herts &amp; Beds

With Mother&#8217;s Day approaching (it&#8217;s on 19 March) we asked the experts at <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/BerkhamstedBookshop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Berkhamsted Bookshop</a> to share their favourite reads about motherhood in its many forms. 



Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-649x1000.jpg" alt="Girl, woman, other by Bernardine Evaristo" class="wp-image-76129" width="640" height="986" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-649x1000.jpg 649w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-519x800.jpg 519w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-997x1536.jpg 997w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-1329x2048.jpg 1329w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other-341x525.jpg 341w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/girl-woman-other.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></figure>



Girl, Woman, Other has been rightfully praised for its vibrant and ambitious storytelling of twelve people, most of whom are women talking about the black, British experience. Evaristo masterfully transitions between voices &#8211; from mother to daughter, great grandmother to colleague, and creates a vivid portrayal of family life from every perspective. Amma &#8211; a lesbian theatre director &#8211; binds all of these characters together, and the novel begins on her latest play’s opening night. As the book progresses, we meet Amma&#8217;s daughter Yazz and a plethora of other characters differing in age, class, profession, and world view. This fiercely feminist Booker Prize winner celebrates motherhood and womanhood in all its forms without shying from the complexities that come with it.



Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="647" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-647x1000.jpg" alt="The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan" class="wp-image-76130" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-647x1000.jpg 647w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-518x800.jpg 518w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-994x1536.jpg 994w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-1326x2048.jpg 1326w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club-340x525.jpg 340w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/the-joy-luck-club.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 647px) 100vw, 647px" /></figure>



This beautiful novel was written in 1989 but still rings true today, making it something of a modern classic. If you don&#8217;t know the story already, it is about a group of four women in America, who meet weekly to play Mah Jong and discuss stories from their previous lives in China, where they emigrated from. The women are united by their losses, hopes and fears for their daughters’ future. The daughters believe their mother’s advice to be irrelevant until their own problems reveal how much of their mothers can be found within them. Tan is a pioneer of Chinese American literature and her words will leave you asking your own mum for stories from her past. 



Anne Of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="710" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-710x1000.jpg" alt="Anne of Green Gables" class="wp-image-76131" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-710x1000.jpg 710w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-568x800.jpg 568w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-1090x1536.jpg 1090w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-1454x2048.jpg 1454w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables-373x525.jpg 373w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Anne-of-Green-Gables.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px" /></figure>



The classic tale has attracted readers for generations because of the beating heart at its centre &#8211; feisty orphan, Anne Shirley. She arrives in the verdant countryside town of Avonlea to be taken in by Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla. The siblings were expecting to adopt a boy to help them on their farm, but it is not long before Anne, with all her exuberance, imagination and wit, wins the pair over entirely. Celebrating a non-traditional family set-up, Anne and Marilla show how motherly love can grow and come in many forms.



Crying in H mart, by Michelle Zauner



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="659" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-659x1000.jpg" alt="Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner" class="wp-image-76132" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-659x1000.jpg 659w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-527x800.jpg 527w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-1012x1536.jpg 1012w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-1349x2048.jpg 1349w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart-346x525.jpg 346w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Crying-in-H-mart.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px" /></figure>



This emotional and bitter-sweet debut memoir tells how Zauner, at 25, had to forge her new life and identity after her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Zauner tells how she navigated life after her death, from being the child of a mother with high expectations and growing up as the only Korean American in her high school, to becoming a successful indie music star, Japanese Breakfast. This memoir is full of both beautiful descriptions, from sharing soul food with her grandmother in Seoul, to experiences of brutal tenderness, as she tries to come to terms with the history that her mother left her with. 



Why Did No One Tell Me? How to Protect Heal and Nurture Your Body Through Motherhood, by Emma Brockwell



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="707" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--707x1000.jpg" alt="Why did No One Tell Me? by Emma Brockwell" class="wp-image-76135" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--707x1000.jpg 707w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--565x800.jpg 565w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--1085x1536.jpg 1085w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--1447x2048.jpg 1447w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me--371x525.jpg 371w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Why-did-noone-tell-me-.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 707px) 100vw, 707px" /></figure>



Specialist women’s health physiotherapist, Emma Brockwell, provides practical advice on all areas from post-birth healing and protecting your pelvic floor to exercising safely post-partem. For too long, mothers have had to put up with problems through pregnancy, birth and beyond that they are told are ‘normal’, but Brockwell lifts the curtain on suffering in silence with her solutions which are delivered with empathy for and empowerment to all birth mothers. 



Stepping Up, by Sarah Turner



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="648" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-648x1000.jpg" alt="Stepping Up by Sarah Turner" class="wp-image-76136" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-648x1000.jpg 648w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-518x800.jpg 518w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-995x1536.jpg 995w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-1327x2048.jpg 1327w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up-340x525.jpg 340w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/herts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Stepping-Up.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px" /></figure>



If you read and loved the parenting blog and bestselling book, The Unmumsy Mum, put this one on your must-read list asap &#8211; it&#8217;s the debut novel from the same author. After a terrible tragedy, Beth, a serial quitter, suddenly finds herself playing mum to her toddler nephew and teen niece. Thrown into a world of tantrums and bedtimes, parents’ evenings and rule setting, Beth promises herself that this time she will step up. Thrumming with emotion and comedy, it&#8217;s no surprise that it instantly made the Sunday Times bestseller list.



Find <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/BerkhamstedBookshop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Berkhamsted Bookshop</a> at 212-220 High Street, Berkhamsted.

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