‘A tender, honest “love bomb” of a read’ Abi Morgan
Maternity Leave
Emma Barnett
‘This lovely book will keep many a new mother company’ Philippa Perry
Maternity Service
In one important sense maternity leave is poorly named, as it involves no actual leave. You are constantly on, even when your offspring is having a nap. There is nothing restful about it. In another sense, maternity leave is aptly named, because it’s a period of leave from all you know: taking leave of one’s mind, body, job and relationships.
When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you’re in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service.
In this warmly reassuring, refreshingly honest book, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time while on her latest tour of duty . She isn’t offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about our purpose and ourselves.
Emma Barnett is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. She was named Interviewer of the Year for 2022 at the British Journalism awards and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, as well as hosting TV interviews and documentaries across the BBC . She has presented programmes that include Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 and Newsnight. She also presented a global interviews programme on Bloomberg TV, interviewing international figures from across the world of politics, sport, entertainment and technology.
Emma pens a bi-weekly newspaper column for the i, and was previously a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph , where she was also the Women’s Editor. After the birth of her first child, she wrote Period: It’s about Bloody Time, her first book.
Emma grew up in Manchester, and now lives in London with her husband and their two children.
Maternity Service
A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave
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First published 2025 001
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For my daughter, my girl.
On Your Marks
Congratulations! You are a parent. A whole other person has joined your crew – and the rest of the human race – because of you. Welcome to this dazzling, emotional and utterly life- changing experience. Before you were one. Now you are two: divided – and connected – for evermore.
You will feel things you have never felt. You will do things you have never done. You will understand what it means to have one heart on the outside of your body while the original pumps madly to keep up with the new levels of love and anxiety coursing through you. Think falling in love with a partner was crazy and exhilarating? Try reproducing. You’ll find yourself falling in love in a way you simply didn’t know was possible.
You have done something incredible. As you have probably already found out, it ain’t like the movies. Having a baby lifts the lid on a whole layer of life and existence you will have been oblivious to until now, despite having gone through it once before on the other side, as a babe in arms. Birth is wild. Never forget that. And you will need time to recover.
But once it’s done, no matter what state it has left you in – it’s done. And your new role begins immediately. This is where we meet each other. The starting blocks.