'My favourite person on the politics of parenthood' Pandora Sykes 'Exhilarating, infuriating, urgent and human' Daisy Buchanan 'A blazing, brilliant read ... compassionate, convincing, funny!' Amy Liptrot 'Honest, unflinching and necessary' Sara Pascoe 'Funny and brisk ... urgent and incisive' Rob Delaney 'A timely and important book' Clover Stroud It's time to share the motherload. A memoir culminating in a manifesto, Holding the Baby sets out to understand why we still treat early parenthood as an individual slog rather than a shared cultural responsibility. Tracing her own journey to the nadir of sleeplessness via social retreat and murderous rage, Frizzell draws on the latest research to explore: - What effect does parenting have on your career? - How can we make childcare affordable and fit for purpose? - If parenting is so hard, why does anyone ever do it more than once? Funny, reassuring and radically ambitious, Holding the Baby sheds light on the ways in which we fail new parents, and offers a rallying crying that we fight for a better alternative.

Annie’s celebrating her engagement to William, who adores her. His six-storey house in Knightsbridge isn’t exactly a turn-off either. So why do her thoughts keep turning to her ex-lover, Ming Kwan? Liz senses something’s up, but has problems of her own: another month has passed and still she’s not pregnant. She and Zack have so much love to give; it’s just not fair. While they’ve been scrupulously making love according to thermometers and calendars, high-flying sister Jo has been having the most explosive sex of her life . . . with her married boss. And now she’s going to have to deal with the consequences – with or without Brett. All of this seems a million lifetimes away for Caroline, who dreams of swapping coffee mornings for cocktails and wonders if her marriage to sweet but predictable Simon has passed its best-before date . . . Eight people trying to manage their lives. Four sisters always there for each other. But can they really have it all? HOLDING THE BABY just goes to show that a family doesn’t always have to be 1+1+2.4 children . . .

She wants him to be her first. He’s willing to help her out. Only now he can’t stop wanting more. The answer has to be no, of course. No way Griff Ambrose is going to help Becca Drake lose her virginity. Sure, she’s beautiful and hot as hell, but she’s his friend’s little sister. And Griff won’t ever risk being hurt again the way he was the day he came home from war to find his house empty and his wife gone. But he can’t get Becca’s request—or pretty much anything else about her—out of his head. Becca has turned her life around, and she’s proud of how much butt she’s kicking. There’s just one more demon she has to exorcise: her virginity. Griff is the perfect candidate to do the deed: He’s her friend, he knows how to get her going with a glance, and neither of them wants anything serious. Until Becca takes a job at the veterans’ retreat where Griff works. Now she and Griff can’t stay out of each other’s way. Worst of all, it’s getting harder and harder for Becca and Griff to lie to themselves about what they really want... “I loved this book. A friends-to-friends-with-benefits-to-lovers romance that is fun, sweet and heartfelt with fantastic characters and a sexy and emotional love story, I was completely hooked!” —Escapist Book Blog “Wow. This was such a great book! I loved that both Griff & Becca had to work on themselves before they could find their HEA. I also loved that they both saw the best in each other, and had more faith in the other person than themselves. I didn’t want to put the book down!!” —Messy Bun Book Blog “A wonderfully emotional and captivating romance, Holding Out by Serena Bell is truly a lovely read. It’s well-written, absolutely charming, incredibly touching, and so beautiful in many ways.” —Sincerely Karen Jo “This was a great story. I loved the banter. These characters so obviously should be together. The pace was good, the heat was such a good build, and goes great with the series.” —Kitty’s Book Spot “5 Steamy Stars! <3 If you are looking for a great book full of romance and good background stories then I would highly recommend reading this book and any other by the author!” —Jackie’s Book World “I absolutely loved Holding Out! Griff and Becca’s story was just wonderful. It was sexy, funny, and fun.” —Becky on Books and Quilts

Written by a pioneer in the field, this second edition provides updated skill-building tools and a more developed, comprehensive understanding of how therapists can use the holding approach when treating perinatal distress. First conceptualized by D.W. Winnicott, the “holding” approach refers to a therapist’s capacity to respond to postpartum distress in a way that facilitates an immediate and successful therapeutic alliance. This model has continued to advance, and this newly updated edition will help readers learn how to contain high levels of agitation, fear, and panic in a way that cultivates trust and the early stages of connectedness. Filled with vignettes throughout, this book includes chapters on what holding is, how to prepare using this model, the emotions specific to postpartum mothers, the essential holding elements, and the practice of holding. This book uniquely addresses the needs of therapists who may find themselves confronting, struggling with, or recovering from their own reproductively related journeys, with chapters discussing the professional’s identity, clinical challenges, and a new chapter on cultural humility. This book is essential reading for all of those in the perinatal mental health community, such as therapists, social workers, and clinicians.

When Lorri Antosz Benson, a 24-year-old successful producer for a groundbreaking national television show, finds herself in an impossible situation, she digs deep and faces the heartbreaking reality that the best choice for her beloved new baby is to be raised by someone else. To Have and Not to Hold is the poignant account of Lorri's momentous decision to give her daughter for adoption, the resulting heartache, and later, the unexpected joy of reconnecting with her daughter and her daughter's adoptive mother. With agonizing yet heartwarming honesty, Lorri offers a profound look at a deep connection of two mothers that is born with the cry of a newborn daughter. What begins as a fragile, tenuous link develops into something dreams and miracles are made of—relationships that go to the soul, are meant to be, and are devoid of fear and possessiveness. To Have and Not to Hold holds much inspiration for any adoptive parent, adoptee, or first/birthparent, but it's a story that anyone will find impossible to put down.

In Holding and Psychoanalysis: A Relational Perspective, Joyce Slochower brings a contemporary relational framework to bear on Winnicott's notion of the analytic holding environment. She presents a fresh, thought-provoking, and clinically useful integration of Winnicott's seminal insights with contemporary relational and feminist/psychoanalytic contributions. Seeking to broaden the concept of holding beyond work with severely regressed patients, she addresses holding in a variety of clinical contexts and focuses especially on holding processes in relation to issues of dependence, self-involvement, and hate. She also considers clinical work with patients "on the edge" - patients who seem deperately to need a holding experience that remains paradoxically elusive. Slochower begins her study by questioning the therapeutic limitations of an interactive style. There are times, she proposes, when certain patients simply cannot tolerate evidence of the analyst's separate subjective presence and instead need a holding experience. Though this holding function is essential to work with difficult patients, it enters into the treatment of all patients, whether as figure or ground. Slochower's relational understanding of holding leads her to consider the impact of holding on patient and analyst alike. Throughout, she emphasizes the analyst's and the patient's co-construction, during moments of holding, of an essential illusion of analytic attunement; this illusion serves to protect the patient from potentially disruptive aspects of the analyst's subjective presence. Slochower's case vignettes helpfully illuminate the intersubjective aspects of the holding process, including the clinical picture when a holding frame fails. She elaborates her thesis by considering the therapeutic function of holding in mourning. And she concludes her study with a cogent examination of the theoretical and clinical limitations of working with a holding process. A welcome reprise on an essential Winnicottian theme, Holding and Psychoanalysis broadens and deepens our understanding of the therapeutic role of the analyst's holding function.

Overworked, under-appreciated and often vilified: it's hard being a lone parent in a society still geared to the two-parent family. And yet one in four families are single parents households. Around 90% are headed up by a single mother. In the summer of 2019, Polly Braden, a single parent herself, started to document the day-to-day reality of what it means to be a single parent in the UK.

Does a rambling Spanish villa hold the key to love? No. 1 Irish bestseller Emma Hannigan returns with her heartwarming new novel. If you like reading Cathy Kelly and Patricia Scanlan, and enjoyed the film UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, you will love this. 'Brimming with hope and joy' Sunday Independent Restoring a Spanish villa brings Shelly back to the place she and her husband once loved, fulfilling the promise he made that they would return. But as plans to transform the villa into a romantic wedding venue take shape, Shelly discovers her children may need the move more than she does. Her son Jake has begun to question the things he values most: his career as a pilot, his relationship with his girlfriend. Could Spain offer him the change he's seeking? Shelly's daughter Leila arrives with a new-born baby in tow, but then hears some startling news she wasn't expecting. As Casa Maria takes its first booking, will it turn out to be more than a romantic promise made all those years ago? Perhaps a second chance at new beginnings?