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The Brink of Being

British Psychological Book Award - Popular Science category, 2021

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780349010779

Price: £9.99

ON SALE: 7th May 2020

Genre: Society & Social Sciences

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Winner of the British Medical Association Popular Medicine Book Award

‘Illuminating and consoling’ JULIA SAMUEL, author of GRIEF WORKS

Though approximately one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, it remains a rarely talked about, under-researched, and largely misunderstood area of women’s health. This award-winning and profoundly necessary book – the first comprehensive portrait of the psychological, emotional, medical, and cultural aspects of miscarriage – aims to help break that silence.

In this groundbreaking book, psychotherapist Julia Bueno draws on historical and psychological research alongside her personal story and those of people she’s helped. Straightforward and supportive, she shines a light on the different ways that miscarriages can happen and how we might allow for our grief, offer comfort and break the silence.

‘It’s the sort of book that women have long been searching for, and it feels like real progress. I’m so thankful she wrote it’ MEAGHAN O’CONNELL, author of And Now We Have Everything

‘Profound insight, rare courage’ ZOE WILLIAMS

‘Opening the door to more candid conversations’ OBSERVER

‘Intuitive and compassionate’ SATHNAM SANGHERA

***Runner-Up – The British Psychological Society Book Award 2021***

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Reviews

The book is most viscerally a memoir of Bueno's own first pregnancy and miscarriage . . . She argues for institutionally sanctioned rituals of mourning. But more work needs to be done to find language and practices that heal rather than harm . . . Part of Julia Bueno's point, too: there is no right or uniform way of responding to miscarriage
Michele Pridmore-Brown, Times Literary Supplement
An intelligent, sensitive, and utterly candid book about miscarriage. Thanks to Bueno's radical empathy and openness, the reader comes away more consoled than heartbroken, and more curious than afraid. It's the sort of book that women have long been searching for, and it feels like real progress. I'm so thankful she wrote it
Meaghan O'Connell, author of And Now We Have Everything
A much needed book on this difficult and often unspoken loss, that of early pregnancy. Julia Bueno talks powerfully from her personal experience as well as professionally which is both illuminating and consoling
Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works
Wise and compassionate, Bueno is the friend (and expert) you want when you or a loved one suffers miscarriage. This is a profound game-changer of a book that can not only support women, but can help reshape a society that often ignores or sweeps women's issues under that proverbial rug
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is this Tomorrow
A thoughtful work that identifies and honours an important passage of life for a great many women
Julia Leigh, author of Avalanche
Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, The Brink of Being is vital reading, both for those who have experienced miscarriage and for the people who want to support them. I think a lot of people are going to be stronger for reading this
Keith Stuart, author of The Boy Made of Blocks
Bueno's choice of language is considered and thoughtful, unpacking difficult issues that are so often avoided for fear of causing distress. She writes with sensitivity and compassion?, filling a much-needed void in discussion around the subject, and opening the door to more candid conversations
Observer
This is a book of profound insight, rare courage and calm, searching compassion. It made me reflect, not just on miscarriage, but on the solace of the intellect, and the euphoric rush of a broken silence
Zoe Williams
A much needed book on this difficult and often unspoken loss, that of early pregnancy. Julia Bueno talks powerfully from her personal experience as well as professionally which is both illuminating and consoling
Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works
Julia is one of the most intuitive and compassionate and curious psychotherapists around, and in her approach to miscarriage all of these qualities are shown
Sathnam Sanghera
Bueno's choice of language is considered and thoughtful, unpacking difficult issues that are so often avoided for fear of causing distress. She writes with sensitivity and compassion, filling a muchneeded void in discussion around the subject, and opening the door to more candid conversations
Katy Lindemann, Observer