num_pages: 198
description: A widely acclaimed young writers fierce new novel in which childbirth and new motherhood are as high stakes a proving ground as any combat zoneA year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it birth and still she can't locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange disjointed rhythms of her days and nights and another impending winter in upstate New York Ari is a tree without roots struggling to keep her branches aloft.When Mina a one-time cult musician  older self-contained alone and nine-months pregnant moves to town Ari sees the possibility of a new friend despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting women. Soon they become comrades-in-arms and the previously hostile terrain seems almost navigable.With piercing insight purifying anger and outrageous humor Elisa Albert issues a wake-up call to a culture that turns its new mothers into exiles and expects them to act like natives. Like Lionel Shrivers We Need to Talk About Kevin and Anne Enrights The Gathering this is a daring and resonant novel from one of our most visceral writers.
language: English
title: After Birth
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt