'A treatise on empathy and grace in extraordinary circumstances' Jojo Moyes
'Today I sat on a bench facing the sea, the one where I waited for L to be born, and sobbed my heart out. I don't know if I'll ever recover.'
This note was written on 9 November 2017. As the seagulls squawked overhead and the sun dipped into the sea, Alexandra Heminsley's world was turning inside out.
She'd just been told her then-husband was going to transition. The revelation threatened to shatter their brand new, still fragile, family.
But this vertiginous moment represented only the latest in a series of events that had left Alex feeling more and more dissociated from her own body, turning her into a seemingly unreliable narrator of her own reality.
Some Body to Love is Alex's profoundly open-hearted memoir about losing her husband but gaining a best friend, and together bringing up a baby in a changing world. Its exploration of what it means to have a human body, to feel connected or severed from it, and how we might learn to accept our own, makes it a vital and inspiring contribution to some of the most complex and heated conversations of our times.
'An honest, moving and authentic examination of the end of a relationship... Heminsley's writing is sharply resonant' SheerLuxe
'Insightful and wise, generous and kind' David Nicholls
Alexandra Heminsley is an author, ghostwriter, journalist, broadcaster and speaker. Her bestselling non-fiction work includes Running Like a Girl and Leap In, and her first novel, Under the Same Stars is to be published in 2022. She lives in Hove with her son, and proudly co-parents her LGBT+ family.
Title: Some Body to Love: A Family Story
Author: Heminsley, Alexandra
ISBN: 9781784743079
Binding:
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: 2021-01-14
Number of Pages: 256
Weight: 0.2001 kg
Jaw-dropping... This is an extraordinary, kind, and generous book about what it means to live in a woman's body and the questions you ask yourself along the way. * Independent, *Books of the Year* *
Staggering... Heminsley is unflinching in her exploration of her feelings. -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
Heartbreak and happiness sit in tandem in Alexandra Heminsley's wise and generous book. -- Eithne Farry * Daily Mirror *
Generous, calm and thoughtful... Some Body to Love argues cogently for greater openness and understanding towards different gender expressions...also page-turningly compelling -- Holly Williams * Observer *
A vital call for compassion and awareness...a hugely hopeful and deftly written book - and one that might encourage greater empathy in how we respond to all kinds of difference -- Gwendolyn Smith * i *
This insightful memoir covers some hefty subjects -- gender identity, body image, infertility, divorce -- with wisdom and grace * Good Housekeeping *
Breathtakingly honest, warm and generous, Some Body To Love is a testament to how family and love can be whatever shape we want them to be -- Sarra Manning * Red *
A treatise on empathy and grace in extraordinary circumstances -- Jojo Moyes
This memoir is going to change a lot of people's lives, and I think it's going to change the conversation -- Damian Barr * Big Scottish Book Club *
Insightful and wise, generous and kind -- David Nicholls
A brave, thoughtful and timely book -- calming and inspiring on our different relationships with our bodies, and vitally compassionate on trans rights -- Naomi Alderman
It took my breath away . . . It's such a beautiful book, so full of compassion and kindness even in its furious honesty . . . You are going to love it * Bryony Gordon *
A book about how a personal crisis caused someone to open up rather than shut down . . . really admirable and carefully done . . . on bodies, families, gender identity, bravery -- Amy Liptrot
Wise, kind, funny, sad and beautifully written. Everyone who occupies a human body should read it -- Erin Kelly
Fabulous . . . Sensitively and cleverly written . . . remarkable -- Judy Murray
