In this wry, resonant and darkly funny memoir, journalist Grace Timothy explores a question most women will face at some point: if becoming a mother means the person you were before has gone; who exactly is left in its place?

Best described as The Wrong Knickers for mums, in Mum Face Grace explores motherhood as an issue of identity.

What begins as shock and then denial of how your life will change has to become acceptance when you’re too big to walk/waddle/work; you’re fully repurposed now; you’re a mum, in everything you do, and everyone knows it. From the physical and emotional changes you encounter to the way your agenda and daily life is altered, your identity is constantly up for redefinition. As the friends and colleagues who shape and support your sense of self slip away, work dwindles as every hour becomes a moment you should be with your child, and your confidence is knocked by the constant feedback from everyone, you try and fit in everywhere – old life, new life – and don’t fit anywhere. It’s the identity crisis that no woman is immune to, belying the credo that being a mother is the most natural thing a girl could do.

Grace has experienced mum rage, mom jeans, mum-tum, mum-hair and had to put on her mum face to cope with it all. These are the truths of motherhood too uncomfortable to flow forth at your NCT meet-ups. From bad sex, messed-up friendships and irretrievable labia to questioning everything and everyone around you.

The hilarious book follows Grace’s journey from a young married woman at the top of her editorial game in London, to a thirty-something mum, confused as to how she can love someone as much as her daughter and yet feel lost as a person.

Compulsively readable, irresistibly written and incredibly well-observed, Grace Timothy’s searingly-honest account of motherhood is essential reading for every mum trying to find their way after the mother of all identity crises.

© 2018 HarperCollins (Audiobook): 9780008271022

Release date

Audiobook: 22 February 2018