This differs from most motherhood memoirs in that it’s also part diary, part poetry collection, charting McNish’s relationship with her child from the moment she realised she was pregnant (at Glastonbury) across a period of three years. With appealing openness and immediacy, she discusses the shifts in her relationship with her body, her partner, her family, friends and colleagues. She is shocked how the world recategorises her, the way she becomes both more, and less, visible as a person. McNish does not shy away from discussing the pain, emotional and physical, the fraying of self that comes with sleep deprivation, the poo, snot, seepages and leakages, but she also captures the bliss and wonder. Her rhymes have a driving quality, urgent words pinning down fleeting feelings, and her prose is warm and conversational, like speaking to a friend.
• Nobody Told Me by Hollie McNish is published by Blackfriars (£8.99). To order a copy for £6.99 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
