13 women explore motherhood in this book. Joy and fascination, uncertainties and ambivalences, run as common threads, as does the persistant grip of wanting to be the perfect mother. There are recurring questions and a wide variety of responses. How do children change women's lives? Do you, must you, become another person when you have a child? How do women who care for children also look after their own needs and desires? Can we balance children and work? How much do fathers engage in parenting? The circumstances in which these women are bringing up their children vary hugely, their pleasures and difficulties ranging over the whole gamut of experience. Many speak of society's disregard for the needs of mothers.