A Woman’s Work

An essential history of forgotten lives and labour * Leah Hazard, author of WOMB *A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn’s place among the foremost voices in medical history * Lindsey Fitzharris, bestselling author of THE FACEMAKER *[Written] with robust research and eloquent rage…a timely lesson on the dangers of allowing outdated patriarchal attitudes to shape modern public policy. * Elaine Weiss, author of SPELL FREEDOM and THE WOMAN’S HOUR *This is the book we need right now, freeing motherhood from history’s margins and making it the story. From the Bronze Age to the present day, Cleghorn writes about the fight for mothers “to be cared for, respected, supported and heard” and her book does all of this and so much more. Huge in its scope and precise in its research, A Woman’s Work is as powerful and astonishing as motherhood itself. * Marianne Levy, author of DON’T FORGET TO SCREAM *Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent. If you like your patriarchal systems dismantled with exquisite research and thoughtful personal reflections you’ll want one of these * Claire Lynch, author of SMALL: ON MOTHERHOODS *Cleghorn takes a sweeping view of motherhood… Impressive research informs a vibrantly detailed history * Kirkus *A meticulously researched and rousing history of mothering. A Woman’s Work is as informative as it is full of feeling * Chloë Ashby, author of SECOND SELF *Cleghorn’s aim is to reclaim mothering as a radical, intentional act - not purely a biological function, devoid of thought, creativity, or labour … Engrossing – Melissa Denes * THE OBSERVER *Cleghorn deftly connects the historical and the contemporary, weaving a narrative of care and resistance which serves as a reminder that ‘women have mothered through every past attempt to govern who gets to be a mother’ with ‘resilience and ingenuity’. A Woman’s Work ultimately serves as a call for action in the face of global attacks on reproductive rights, maternal healthcare, and the rights of caregivers and families which refuse to conform to the heteropatriarchal norm. In the face of such attacks, Cleghorn’s profoundly empathetic, expansive history is, like her subject, a necessary and radical act of love – Helena Aeberli * TRIBUNE *

Elinor Cleghorn is a feminist cultural historian, writer and researcher living in Sussex, UK. After receiving her PhD in humanities and cultural studies in 2012, she worked for three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford on an interdisciplinary arts and medical humanities project. Her writing on women’s health and its histories has been published in Wall Street Journal, BBC History Magazine, BBC Science Focus, New Scientist, and Vogue, and she has discussed her research on BBC Woman’s Hour, NPR, and numerous podcasts. Elinor is the author of Unwell Women, which was published in 2021 in the UK and US, and has been translated across the world.

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