Wow! A heartfelt read for me! A truly moving collection of those that are Childless by Circumstance I highly recommend it.

Thank you Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

This book shares honest, raw stories from females (mainly from NZ and Australia) who have missed the opportunity to become a mother. Their circumstances differ, their lives differ but the honesty and emotion throughout this book is shared.

An important subject which is so painful for those going through it. I hope that books like this will become more normalised in our society to help those who need to, understand the pain and suffering experienced by so many women and their partners. Often this pain is intensified by the feeling that society expects women to produce in certain ways.

Stories from women that are childless and their thoughts on it. Interesting to read their take on this subject. Some prefer to not have children of their own, some want children badly and cannot have them. :I commend these women for allowing their thoughts and feelings to be published. I am sure this book will help a lot of women, Men may benefit from it also, as it may give them insight on what the woman may be going through. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

This was an interesting read, interesting to note that some of the women on the other side of biological clock did get pregnant in their twenties but had abortions, timing not right, or partner not willing, career got in the way, being told youth was on their side, etc. Interesting read.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to the author for writing this book. My husband and I have been unable to have children and it has been devastating watching others get pregnant easily. Reading this book let me know that I am not alone.

This book couldn’t have come at a better time. Since my divorce, I’ve been struggling with grief over opportunities lost. I’ve most often berated myself over missing my chance to be a mother. While I was in a relationship, I had come to terms with not having children, but a change in circumstance changed my feelings.

This book validated those feelings. The numerous stories of other women who have also remained childless by circumstance have helped me to feel like it is okay to experience these feelings. The reasons women don’t have children vary widely, and so do women’s feelings about it. This collection of experiences is a valuable read for anyone who may find herself childless.

Raw is the word that comes to mind. Whatever the women in this book are thinking and feeling, their first-person accounts made me feel for them. We probably won't purchase for our library because it's not all that relevant to our demographics, but it was interesting reading.

Touching and fascinating stories of a wide variety of women, with so many different lives and ways of approaching missed motherhood. I could read this book all over again with more stories and delicately handled mourning

Raw , sensitive and beautiful written. This book is very emotional raw yet it is written in a sensitive manner. The book has stories from different women who have experienced missed motherhood through circumstances. They pour their hearts out about why, how they have become childless. It gives a good insight into how women really think and feel when they do not become mothers and what impact that has on their lives past and present.
Also it touches on how people,family and friends automatically expects the woman to become a mother and that it should be easy. (When it isn’t)
It also opens your eyes at how society views a woman’s role with the home/family.

Childlessness by circumstance is something that really isn't discussed much in our society. Infertility and Child-Free By Choice is discussed much more often.
One theme, or actually one WORD, that I saw repeatedly in this book was "nurture". So many of these women say they just want to nurture a child. I was also surprised by the number of women who had previously had an abortion (or multiple abortions) and then reached their 40s without ever having a child. None of them outright regretted their choices to terminate their unwanted (or untimely) pregnancies, which surprised me a little. I would have expected at least one or two to have second guessed that choice. But perhaps it says a lot about how much they initially thought through their decisions.
Another universal theme was grief. Many women spoke about how it took a while to realize that they had the RIGHT to grieve the loss of the children that never came and the life that they would not be living. It was nice that they last story was about a woman who was able to move on to a Plan B life and feel fulfilled.

The different thoughts and feelings were interesting. Good premise.

Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating i gave it.