This book is written in essays about the female body and what it goes through, especially if it is wracked in pain. Sinead Gleeson had arthritis as a child, it weakened her hip bone and she had to get her hip fused together which left her with one leg longer than the other. The title, Constellations is based on the metal work that she had in her body. She then takes us on her journey struggling with pain and what it had done to her body. She has had to endure surgery, physiotherapy and leukaemia to mention just a few. This is a beautifully written book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and the author Sinead Gleeson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this. A great edition to the emerging subcategory of memoirs focussing on the author's body, their health and experiences of illness and the impact these have had on them - in the vein of Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. The book is organised as a series of essays focusing on topics as wide in range as abortion, her hip replacement, hair and leukaemia. Fantastic writing too - I'll definitely be checking out more of Gleeson's writing.

'Constellations' seemed like the perfect book at the perfect time for me: just after reading Maggie O Farrell's 'I Am I Am I Am' and Emilie Pine's 'Notes to Self'. This collection of essays seemed to go on further than the others, so preoccupied with the body and what we don't write about it. Illness, fertility, bodies in pain, bodily autonomy, even apparitions and auras of the dead and their absence of a body. For me, the essay 'Second Mother' will stand out as the moment I knew Sinead Gleeson would change what I think about personal non fiction forever. More than the current names O'Farrell and Pine, she reaches into the traditions of Woolf and Didion, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and will revist in a later review once I buy the book on publication and reread - which is something I never do. This book is life changing

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I adored this collection and will be pressing it into many people's hands once it's published.

Constellations by Sinead Gleeson will be adored by fans of Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am and Michelle Elman's Am I Ugly? when it is published in April. In this fantastic, powerful book of personal essays, Gleeson looks at the struggles and pain her body has been through during childhood, childbirth, growing up and cancer. Through pain both physical and emotional, there are scars full of stories. The writing is razor sharp as she delves into the limitations of our bodies as she explores the abortion debate in Ireland, tackles death of an ex-boyfriend, survives having a rare type of leukemia.

Our lives are written on our bodies and etched into our bones and no one understands that more than Sinéad Gleeson. These essays are extraordinary, beautiful and universal. I will be pressing this book into the hands of every woman I care about.

The book is made up of essays written by Sinéad Gleason. Be prepared to go through many emotions.
A thought provoking read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

A very emotional set of personal essays by Sinead Gleeson, all of which are very topical and relevant to what it means being a woman in Ireland today.

This is a wonderful and necessary read for women, both from Ireland and not. Detailing the series of bodily occurrences that seek to overwhelm her, Sinead Gleeson demands representation, seeks answers and speaks truth to power. The story of her illnesses, issues and experiences as a woman are told with a genuineness and honesty that truly made me feel inspired and gave me a sense of how unforgiving life can be for many people. That said, Gleeson's evident skill with a pen, dedication to her own story and taking ownership of it, and her descriptions and observations are cutting edge. More publishing like this is needed.

Perfect for fans of I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell, this is a set of trenchant autobiographical essays about the experience of being in a female body, especially one that is often wracked by pain. As a child Gleeson had arthritis that weakened her hip bones; a fusion of the bones left her with one leg longer than the other, causing a limp and necessitating the use of a cane, and eventually she had to have a total hip replacement. She ranges from the seemingly trivial to life-and-death matters as she writes about hairstyles, blood types, pregnancy, the abortion debate in Ireland and having a rare type of leukemia. Other topics include the accidental death of an ex-boyfriend – a mutual friend of hers and her husband’s –and her family’s knowledge of ghosts.

In the tradition of Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo and Susan Sontag, Gleeson turns pain into art (“making wounds the source of inspiration,” she calls it), particularly in a set of 20 poems based on the McGill Pain Index. Her descriptions of hospital bustle are onomatopoeic verse in their own right: “Trolleytrundle and sirenblare. I’m on lates this week. Whirr-blink of machines. Food trays rattling. Nuuurrsse! The three notes the blood pressure pump sings on completion. Pinging of patient call bells. Squeak of sensible footwear.” Like O’Farrell, Gleeson marvels at all that the body can withstand, but realizes that medical interventions leave permanent marks, physical or emotional. She also remarks on the essential loneliness of illness, and the likelihood of women’s pain not being believed in or acknowledged. This book feels timely and is inventive in how it brings together disparate topics to explore the possibilities and limitations of women’s bodies.

A powerful and personal book, Constellations is a collection of essays on diverse topics ranging from motherhood to art, and everything in between, The constellations of the title refers to the metal implants that the author had inserted in her hip as a young teen, and from this starting point she takes us on a journey of struggle and pain, but also of hope and determination as she recounts her life from the perspective of the toll it has taken on her body, a brutal impact with a car as a child, years of surgery and physiotherapy as a teen, a rare form of leukaemia as an adult, and her pregnancies which were not without drama of their own. Female bodily autonomy is a topic which has come under scrutiny in Ireland in the last number of years, and the political and social aspects of this struggle are at the forefront of the book. So many times, her words and experiences resonated with me as a fellow Irish woman, but I have no doubt in saying that they also speak to a universal experience. I found myself not merely entertained by the book, but inspired too.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own,