Life, Almost: Miscarriage, misconceptions and a search for answers from the brink of motherhood by Jennie Agg
'Vital and heart-wrenchingly intimate' Leah Hazard
'Urgent, fascinating and thought-provoking' Julia Bueno
'Thoughtfully researched and beautifully written' Pippa Vosper
After losing four pregnancies with no obvious cause, Jennie Agg set out to understand why miscarriage remains such a profoundly misunderstood, under-researched and under-acknowledged experience.
Part-memoir, part-scientific investigation, Life, Almost documents Agg's path to motherhood and her search for answers. Tracing each tentative step of her fifth pregnancy - as her body becomes a creature she does not wish to spook - Agg dismantles the myths that we unquestioningly accept about our reproductive lives:
* Why are we told miscarriage can't be prevented when half of all miscarriages are of perfectly healthy embryos?
* Why is it normal not to tell anyone you're pregnant for the first three months?
* Why don't we know why labour starts?
Drawing on pioneering research and interviews with world-leading experts, Life, Almost is a ground-breaking book that will change how you think about miscarriage, and a moving reflection on grief and love at the edge of life as we understand it.