After Birth: A Novel

By: Elisa Albert

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Synopsis: A fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with &“dark humor and brutal honesty&” (People). A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it &“birth&” and she still 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 indie musician—older, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnant—moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms . . . With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is about pregnancy and childbirth that is &“vicious, hilarious, and above all real&” (The New York Times Book Review). &“[A] scaldingly and exhilaratingly honest account of new motherhood, emotional exile, and the complex romance of female friendship.&” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!