WINNER OF THE SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2023
A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 PEN / EO WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD
A landmark book on the womb - its history, its present and the possibilities for its future - by the bestselling author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story
'A gripping exploration of the science of the uterus, the politics of medicine and the future of reproductive freedom' New Statesman
'Page for page, I may not have ever learned more from a book' Rob Delaney, author of A Heart that Works
'It will change the way you think about bodies forever' Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life
'Empowerment in book form' Maxine Mei-Fung Chung, author of What Women Want
'A phenomenal book' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
The womb is the most miraculous organ in the body - with the power to bring life or cause death; to yield joy or pain - yet most of us know almost nothing about it.
In this book, midwife and bestselling author Leah Hazard sets out on a journey to explore the rich past, complex present and dynamic future of the uterus. She speaks to the Californian doctor who believes women deserve a period-free life; walks in the footsteps of the Scottish woman whose Caesarean section changed childbirth forever; uncovers America's long history of forced and coercive sterilisation; observes uterine transplant surgery in Sweden and takes a very personal dive into the world of 'womb wellness'.
Written with wisdom, warmth and nuance, and combining the author's years of experience as a midwife with medical history, scientific discovery and journalistic inquiry, Womb is an extraordinary exploration of a woefully under-researched and misunderstood organ. Above all, the book reveals that the uterus is more than the sum of its biological parts: it influences all our lives in the twenty-first century, and how we celebrate, medicate and legislate the womb might yet control where we go from here.
