Winner of the British Medical Association Popular Medicine Book Award
Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society Book Award 2021
‘Illuminating and consoling’ JULIA SAMUEL, author of GRIEF WORKS
Though approximately one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, pregnancy loss remains a rarely talked about, under-researched, and largely misunderstood area of women’s health. This award-winning book aims to help break that silence.
With empathy, warmth and honesty, psychotherapist Julia Bueno blends women’s stories (including her own) with research and analysis, exploring the effect of pregnancy loss on women and highlighting the ways in which our society fails to effectively respond to it. The result is a galvanising, urgent and moving exploration of a too-often-hidden human experience, and a crucial resource for anyone struggling with – or seeking to better understand – miscarriage.
‘It’s the sort of book that women have long been searching for’ 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
Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society Book Award 2021
‘Illuminating and consoling’ JULIA SAMUEL, author of GRIEF WORKS
Though approximately one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, pregnancy loss remains a rarely talked about, under-researched, and largely misunderstood area of women’s health. This award-winning book aims to help break that silence.
With empathy, warmth and honesty, psychotherapist Julia Bueno blends women’s stories (including her own) with research and analysis, exploring the effect of pregnancy loss on women and highlighting the ways in which our society fails to effectively respond to it. The result is a galvanising, urgent and moving exploration of a too-often-hidden human experience, and a crucial resource for anyone struggling with – or seeking to better understand – miscarriage.
‘It’s the sort of book that women have long been searching for’ 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
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
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
A thoughtful work that identifies and honours an important passage of life for a great many women
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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