Many women expect to become mothers but are childless through social rather than biological reasons – perhaps they haven’t met the right person or they prioritised career or education earlier in life. Featuring international interviews by grief counsellor and researcher Lois Tonkin, this collection of first-person stories provides insight into the under-discussed situation of being childless by circumstance.
Each story highlights the different aspects of being childless by circumstance, as women move through their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and beyond their ages of fertility. The book explores feelings of grief and loss, and also how women adapt positively to their changed life expectations, finding excitement in the alternative, rich and complex shapes their lives have taken.
Inhoudsopgave
Acknowledgements. Foreword by Jody Day. Introduction. 1. Gina, USA. 2. Toni, New Zealand. 3. Andrea, England. 4. Lynne, New Zealand. 5. Molly, New Zealand. 6. Leeann, Australia. 7. Bron, New Zealand. 8. Persephone, England. 9. Sonja, New Zealand. 10. Claudia, Australia. 11. Louise, New Zealand. 12. Hannah, Spain. 13. Maree, New Zealand. 14. Julia, New Zealand. 15. Raewyn, India 16. Genevieve, England. 17. Holly, New Zealand. 18. Bridget, New Zealand. 19. Yvonne, England. 20. Deborah, New Zealand. 21. Brigitte, England. 22. Georgina, New Zealand. 23. Rebecca, Australia. 24. Rachael, New Zealand. 25. Teena, New Zealand. 26. Rose, New Zealand. 27. Shanti, England. 28. Shelly, New Zealand. 29. Kathryn, New Zealand. 30. Stella, New Zealand. 31. Vicki, New Zealand. 32. Natasha, England. About the Author
Over de auteur
Dr Lois Tonkin has worked as a counsellor, educator and writer about issues of loss and grieving for over 25 years. Shehas a special interest in the disenfranchised grief experienced by people whohave non-bereavement losses. She is well known in the UK and NZ for her work about the ways people ‘grow around grief’; where they find ways to ‘live with’their losses rather than ‘get over’ over them. Lois is a lecturer in counselling and in qualitative research methods at the University of Canterbury/Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha, New Zealand. She is also a counsellor for Genea Oxford Fertility, in Christchurch. She lives in Diamond Harbour, Aotearoa/New Zealand.