Lions in the wilderness book

Ay eg l Sava grew up in London Copenhagen and Istanbul Her work has appeared in The New Yorker The Paris Review and Granta among others She lives in Paris A deeply felt chronicle into the wilderness of the first forty days of new motherhood In the final weeks of her pregnancy Ay eg l Sava becomes fascinated by the mythology around the first forty days after giving birth and the invisible beings that are said to surround the mother In Turkish we speak of extracting the forty days like a sort of exorcism My grandmothers assure me that it will all get better after forty days are out A friend lends a book that suggests forty days of rest and fortifying broths and avoiding wind and cold In Judaism Christianity and Islam forty days are seen as a period of trial and transformation They are often journeys into the wilderness and its vast and unruly territories When the baby arrives Sava charts her own path into the wilderness of new motherhood a space of contradiction of chaos and care mothering and being mothered What is the trial of the postpartum crossing writes Sava Where will mother and child emerge once they have left the wild The Wildernessforever staff pick incoming an unexpected delivery this past tuesday and one our bookselling team is coveting devouring sharing in joyfully i m passing my copy on to jess and we will be talking about this all summer thank you jarrod the transit team we love you x Paperback Proxy for Freedom to Move New Yorker short story discussed w Ann s book club Witnessing diminished capacity in a fractured family Paperback Beautiful Paperback Brilliant and wonderfully written essay by Savas about the 40 day period following giving birth I devoured it Paperback This is a quick read a written lecture that I read in two sittings pondering the change from not a parent to parent Savas details what this time was like for her immediately following the birth of her child a baby who cried constantly during her first weeks Our cultural narrative around this time is that it s a happy joyous time However it s also a tough time filled with wild hormonal changes if you ve just given birth and a huge lifestyle change Paperback