Some Body to Love: A Family Story

Description

A life-affirming and important memoir about the changing shape of gender and society from a popular and beloved author '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. 'Insightful and wise, generous and kind' David Nicholls

Alexandra Heminsley is an author, ghostwriter, journalist, broadcaster and speaker particularly known for encouraging women to enjoy sport and fitness. Her bestselling books include Running Like a Girl and Leap In. She lives in Hove with her son, and proudly co-parents her LGBT+ family.

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