An unconventional, unexpectedly funny, brutally honest memoir about infertility, pregnancy and motherhood

'You and your partner want a baby. But your two bodies can't make a baby together.'

If you want a baby but your body says otherwise -
If you don't know the polite way to say thank you for the sperm -
If you're waiting for the sound of a brand-new heartbeat -
If you know it takes a village to raise a baby but have no idea who should be doing what -
If you're lurching between bliss and bewilderment -
If you don't fit the shape of what you've been told a mother should be -
Reach for The Unfamiliar and don't let go.

Moving and immersive, and written with wisdom, disarming humour and raw honesty, The Unfamiliar casts a fresh eye on motherhood and challenges our assumptions about pregnancy, gender roles, queer identity and what it means to be a parent.

'Cold, hard, raw writing that somehow sets your heart on fire' LAURA DOCKRILL

'Fierce, honest, beautifully written... A marvel' PRAGYA AGARWAL

'Kirsty Logan writes with bright wit and wonder - I read this book in awe' DOIREANN NI GHRIOFA

'Wonderful... Luminous writing captures the uncertainty, the fear, the sheer physicality of love' MARIANNE LEVY

About the Author
Kirsty Logan's books include Now She is Witch, Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales. She lives in Glasgow with her wife, baby and rescue dog.

Reviews
Searingly honest. There is something inherently strange about nurturing a person inside your body and then giving birth to it ... Logan does an excellent job of portraying the reality - the beauty and the horror of it -- Lotte Jeffs * Guardian *
When pregnancy grabs hold of a body it uses it to tell a very old story, but The Unfamiliar insists on a telling that is vibrantly new. The result is a book of desire, of bewilderment, of joy, of grief, and of love. Kirsty Logan writes with bright wit and wonder - I read this book in awe * Doireann Ni Ghriofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat *
What a book this is, probing gender roles and expectation, identity and desire. Luminous writing captures the uncertainty, the fear, the sheer physicality of love. It is wonderful * Marianne Levy, author of Don't Forget to Scream *
Cold, hard, raw writing that somehow sets your heart on fire. I could not put it down * Laura Dockrill, author of What Have I Done? *
Such a fierce, honest, beautifully written account of love, and queer motherhood. I found it very moving. Logan manages to bring the tiniest detail in kaleidoscopic detail for the reader, but in such precise poetic prose. A marvel * Pragya Agarwal, author of (M)otherhood *
I loved The Unfamiliar - a courageous and sharply written account of a meandering journey to motherhood and all the emotional and physical struggles it entails. Funny and intensely moving, with the most vivid description of birth I've ever read * Kate Maxwell, author of Hush *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349016573
Author Kirsty Logan
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 360g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 142mm * 26mm