Drunk Mum

Description

There are many alcoholic mothers. Only one has told her story. three years after giving up alcohol, Jowita Bydlowska found herself throwing back a glass of champagne like it was lemonade. 'It's a special occasion,' she said to her boyfriend. And indeed it was. It was a party celebrating the birth of their first child. It also marked Jowita's immediate, full-blown return to alcoholism and all that entails for a new mother who is at first determined to keep her problem a secret. Her trips to bottle shops stores are in-and-out missions. Perhaps she's being paranoid, but she thinks people tend to notice the stroller. Walking home, she stays behind buildings, in alleyways, taking discreet sips from a bottle she's stored in the nappy bag. She know she's become a villain: a mother who drinks; a mother who endangers her child. She drinks to forget this. And then the trouble really starts. Jowita Bydlowska's memoir of her relapse into addiction is an extraordinary achievement. the writing is raw and immediate. It places you in the moment - saddened and appalled but never able to look away. With brutal honesty, DRUNK MUM takes us through the binges and blackouts, the self-deception and less successful attempts to deceive others, the humiliations and extraordinary risk-taking. She shines a light on the endless hunger of wanting just one more drink, and one more again, while dealing with motherhood, anxiety, depression - and rehab. Advance Praise for Drunk Mom: 'Jowita is matter of fact, funny, fearless, and irreverent as she lifts the veil to chronicle what it means to be a young mother when both baby and mother have their own bottles - the shame and the inner voices, as well as the joy and relief. this book is for anyone who has ever struggled to make it through a day.' - Laura Albert, a.k.a. Jt LeRoy, author of Sarah, the Heart Is Deceitful Above All things and Harold's End 'Drunk Mom is a stunning, harrowing read. Why harrowing? Not just because of the dramatic story, of a new mother at the edge of her tether. And not only because of Jowita Bydlowska's skill as a writer, and the crisp, original way she tells it. What's most harrowing about Drunk Mom is that you can't stop reading it-this, the dark, now-told tale that lurks in the shadow of every seemingly normal family.' - Ian Brown, author of the Boy in the Moon 'A brave, brilliant and scathing self-portrait. Full of energy and insight. If Frida Kahlo had been a writer, she might have been compared to Jowita Bydlowska.' - Patricia Pearson, author of A Brief History of Anxiety - Yours and Mine. 'Fearless and troubling, and so very humane, Bydlowska explodes the cutesy momoir genre. You'll read it in one sitting.' - Katrina Onstad, author of Everybody Has Everything.

Jowita Bydlowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to the small town of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, as a teenager. Once she emerged from a long-held culture shock, she eventually learned English well enough to try writing it. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, magazines, newspapers and online publications, including Salon http://dir.salon.com/topics/jowita_bydlowska/ and Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jowita-bydlowska . Jowita likes to drink but doesn't do that any more. She currently lives in Toronto with her son, his father and zero spirits, holy or otherwise.

"I am adhered to the misery memoir and can say that Bydlowska did it perfectly. She floated over her personal landscape like a drone and then dropped ordnance on herself. As for the why, she wrote one shattering page towards the end about human pain, hers. She's a Canadian writer headed for even more greatness." --Heather Mallick, Toronto Star "It's a bestseller in her adopted homeland Canada... brilliantly written but painful to read." --The Times (UK) "[M]aternal tippling is a trendy topic on 'mom' blogs... But these chirpy, jokey accounts don't touch the dark spiral of addiction Toronto writer Jowita Bydlowska relives in this riveting account... Bydlowska is an evocative, talented and gutsy writer who appears willing to confess all... Bydlowska writes of watching other upscale stroller-pushing moms and wondering: do they hide mickeys in their diaper bags too? With this bracing book, others will now be asking that question as well." --"Maclean's " '[A] gifted writer, and a courageous one... Without glibness, without self-pity, knowing that she risks being judged, Bydlowska tells her story.... Luckily for those reading her story, she possesses a wickedly dark sense of humour." "--The Gazette," Montreal "It is a memoir that pushes at boundaries - what is private, what should perhaps be kept private, what we need to know, what we don't, what is insightful or just exhibitionism. [O]ne of the most talked about books of the season... " --"The Globe and Mail." "To understand this story in the guise of an addiction memoir is to misunderstand its worth.... Instead, this book is fresh within the context of a parenting memoir, one of a particular kind: A counterculture parenting memoir. [It] stands as an uncommonly perceptive chronicle of what it means to be an intelligent, urban parent trying to hold on to the rest of her life. As a writer she's got some chops." --"National Post" "A compelling, raw look at her st "It's a bestseller in her adopted homeland Canada... brilliantly written but painful to read." --The Times (UK) "[M]aternal tippling is a trendy topic on 'mom' blogs... But these chirpy, jokey accounts don't touch the dark spiral of addiction Toronto writer Jowita Bydlowska relives in this riveting account... Bydlowska is an evocative, talented and gutsy writer who appears willing to confess all... Bydlowska writes of watching other upscale stroller-pushing moms and wondering: do they hide mickeys in their diaper bags too? With this bracing book, others will now be asking that question as well." --"Maclean's " '[A] gifted writer, and a courageous one... Without glibness, without self-pity, knowing that she risks being judged, Bydlowska tells her story.... Luckily for those reading her story, she possesses a wickedly dark sense of humour." "--The Gazette," Montreal "It is a memoir that pushes at boundaries - what is private, what should perhaps be kept private, what we need to know, what we don't, what is insightful or just exhibitionism. [O]ne of the most talked about books of the season... " --"The Globe and Mail." "To understand this story in the guise of an addiction memoir is to misunderstand its worth.... Instead, this book is fresh within the context of a parenting memoir, one of a particular kind: A counterculture parenting memoir. [It] stands as an uncommonly perceptive chronicle of what it means to be an intelligent, urban parent trying to hold on to the rest of her life. As a writer she's got some chops." --"National Post" "A compelling, raw look at her struggle with alcoholism, the addiction that swallowed [Bydlowska] after the birth of her son." --"Elle" "[She] eschews the touchy-feely language of recovery ... The cool yet raw efficiency of Bydlowska's prose, a testament to her successful journalistic career, repudiates indulgence of any kind. This detachment is what makes "Drunk Mom" both a pa "[M]aternal tippling is a trendy topic on 'mom' blogs... But these chirpy, jokey accounts don't touch the dark spiral of addiction Toronto writer Jowita Bydlowska relives in this riveting account... Bydlowska is an evocative, talented and gutsy writer who appears willing to confess all... Bydlowska writes of watching other upscale stroller-pushing moms and wondering: do they hide mickeys in their diaper bags too? With this bracing book, others will now be asking that question as well." --"Maclean's " '[A] gifted writer, and a courageous one... Without glibness, without self-pity, knowing that she risks being judged, Bydlowska tells her story.... Luckily for those reading her story, she possesses a wickedly dark sense of humour." "--The Gazette," Montreal "It is a memoir that pushes at boundaries - what is private, what should perhaps be kept private, what we need to know, what we don't, what is insightful or just exhibitionism. [O]ne of the most talked about books of the season... " --"The Globe and Mail." "To understand this story in the guise of an addiction memoir is to misunderstand its worth.... Instead, this book is fresh within the context of a parenting memoir, one of a particular kind: A counterculture parenting memoir. [It] stands as an uncommonly perceptive chronicle of what it means to be an intelligent, urban parent trying to hold on to the rest of her life. As a writer she's got some chops." --"National Post" "A compelling, raw look at her struggle with alcoholism, the addiction that swallowed [Bydlowska] after the birth of her son." --"Elle" "[She] eschews the touchy-feely language of recovery ... The cool yet raw efficiency of Bydlowska's prose, a testament to her successful journalistic career, repudiates indulgence of any kind. This detachment is what makes "Drunk Mom" both a painful yet paradoxically effortless read." --Literary Review of Canada ""Drunk Mom" is a stunning, harrowing read "With "Drunk Mom," [Bydlowska] delivers a memorable first book, if not a work of striking literary flair. Its strength lies in the power of her story, told retrospectively through sobriety's wide-open eyes using language that is direct and painfully sincere. . . . Bydlowska's analysis of how self-delusion and self-destructive behaviour badly hurt her and those around her reveals parallels that will be familiar to many, if not all of us." --"Quill & Quire" ""Drunk Mom" is a stunning, harrowing read. Why harrowing? Not just because of the dramatic story, of a new mother at the edge of her tether. And not only because of Jowita Bydlowska's skill as a writer, and the crisp, original way she tells it. What's most harrowing about "Drunk Mom" is that you can't stop reading it--this, the dark, now-told tale that lurks in the shadow of every seemingly normal family." --Ian Brown, author of "The Boy in the Moon" " " "A brave, brilliant and scathing self-portrait. Full of energy and insight. If Frida Kahlo had been a writer, she might have been compared to Jowita Bydlowska." --Patricia Pearson, author of "A Brief History of Anxiety - Yours and Mine." " " "Fearless and troubling, and so very humane, Bydlowska explodes the cutesy momoir genre. You'll read it in one sitting." --Katrina Onstad, author of "Everybody Has Everything. " "This is quite simply not just another addiction memoir. It's something truly special. I "felt "this book. It carries the reader. It whispers. It really is can't-put-it-down great!" --Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, author of "I'm Kind of a Big Deal: And Other Delusions of Adequacy." "Jowita is matter-of-fact, funny, fearless, and irreverent as she lifts the veil to chronicle what it means to be a young mother when both baby and mother have their own bottles -- the shame and the inner voices, as well as the joy and relief. This book is for anyone who has ever struggled to make it through a day." --Lauras Advance Praise for "Drunk Mom" ""Drunk Mom" is a stunning, harrowing read. Why harrowing? Not just because of the dramatic story, of a new mother at the edge of her tether. And not only because of Jowita Bydlowska's skill as a writer, and the crisp, original way she tells it. What's most harrowing about "Drunk Mom" is that you can't stop reading it--this, the dark, now-told tale that lurks in the shadow of every seemingly normal family." --Ian Brown, author of "The Boy in the Moon" " " "A brave, brilliant and scathing self-portrait. Full of energy and insight. If Frida Kahlo had been a writer, she might have been compared to Jowita Bydlowska." --Patricia Pearson, author of "A Brief History of Anxiety - Yours and Mine." " " "Fearless and troubling, and so very humane, Bydlowska explodes the cutesy momoir genre. You'll read it in one sitting." --Katrina Onstad, author of "Everybody Has Everything. " "This is quite simply not just another addiction memoir. It's something truly special. I "felt "this book. It carries the reader. It whispers. It really is can't-put-it-down great!" --Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, author of "I'm Kind of a Big Deal: And Other Delusions of Adequacy". "Jowita is matter-of-fact, funny, fearless, and irreverent as she lifts the veil to chronicle what it means to be a young mother when both baby and mother have their own bottles -- the shame and the inner voices, as well as the joy and relief. This book is for anyone who has ever struggled to make it through a day." --Laura Albert, a.k.a. JT LeRoy, author of "Sarah, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, "and" Harold's End"