Lyrical, moving and thorough, this is a memoir, a feminist text and a piece of social commentary. Every millennial woman should have it on her bookshelf.’ Her silly delight in the playful possibilites of the English language is what makes her such an engaging and endearing narrator' - the Telegraph

In the UK, for those of you who don’t know, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded 60 years after the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and still receives significantly less funding each year, through donations and legacies, than the pet charity. Perhaps this apparent preference shouldn’t be surprising. After all, domesticated animals are far, far less dependent on you for physical, emotional or psychological support than babies and children. They don’t hit you with years of hormonal fury during toddlerhood and adolescence, don’t learn to talk, don’t develop challenging political views, fall in love with drug dealers or steal your record collection. Finally, if the pet in question is a total nightmare, it is possible to give it away, or take it to a shelter, with very little social stigma. Over the course of more than 130 columns, British Vogue’ s parenting columnist Nell Frizzell has analyzed and dissected the highs and lows of motherhood—interweaving deeply personal reflections on raising her son with calls for greater support for parents across the board. In her new book, Holding the Baby , she distills everything she’s learned into a moving memoir and manifesto for change. Here, she reflects on her greatest revelations from five years as a mother. Raw, hilarious and beguilingly honest, Nell Frizzell's account of her panic years is both an arm around the shoulder and a campaign to start a conversation. This affects us all - women, men, mothers, children, partners, friends, colleagues - so it's time we started talking about it with a little more candour.Heartening, eye-opening, hilarious. I'm glad Nell has given this weird time a term we can all use'. - Emma Gannon Every woman will experience the panic years in some way between her mid-twenties and early-forties. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

What I’m not so good at – and what I think is a big ask of new parents – is then pretending on top of all that to be completely chilled out. To pretend not to care when your house looks like the inside of a compost bin, when your toddler snatches a paintbrush off another child and starts to chew it, when the person you are meeting texts to say they’re running 15 minutes late so you have to entertain a small child in the street for quarter of an hour, when they get a rash, when the bus stop’s closed, when your child won’t eat or you run out of clean nappies. All that stuff is, to some degree at least, stressful. Acting like you don’t care, haven’t noticed or don’t mind, feels like just another layer of artifice to add onto the sediments of bullshit new parents have to deal with. The Italian notion of sprezzatura – the conscious effort of making things look easy and nonchalant – is toxic in the world of new parents. Oh me? I just whipped up this sugar-free carrot cake. Oh them? I didn’t do anything; they just started sleeping through the night. Oh the house? I just have these sixteen different handmade boxes where I sort their clothes and toys, so it’s really easy, actually. A fresh, funny novel filled with truths about relationships and perfect details. I tore though it.’ - Amy LiptrotThe baby I’ve been bringing up is now five. He can chop carrots and name different types of beetle and do up the velcro on his shoes. I have written more than 130 columns about the wild, endless, everyday wonder of being a parent. And I still have so, so much more to say. Because there is still so, so much to do. And enjoy. And rail against. And learn. What you learn will vary, of course. And it will probably be different depending on whether you are a birth parent, an adoptive parent, a co-parent, a single parent, an older parent, a parent with paid work, a religious parent, a parent of twins, of a newborn, a parent who has experienced pregnancy loss, a parent with a car, a disabled parent, a parent with a dishwasher, or a parent who uses the phrase “the days are long but the months are short.” I have been some of those things, and I have written about my experience not just to try and communicate it to other people but to try and understand it myself. So, several thousand flannels, tantrums, rashes, and kisses later, here is what I’ve learned. Language has brought me more joy than I expected My favourite person on the politics of parenthood. Read it and feel comforted, cheered and galvanized (even when your brain and body are melting).' Pandora Sykes Think you’ve spotted a pattern in when your baby is tired? Think you’ve worked out what they’ll eat? Think you’ve formed a routine? Think you know them now? Well, make hay while the sun shines, my friends, because it won’t last. Change, movement, momentum, addition, variation, transformation, variety, difference and propulsion are the only absolute constant in your life now. Everything changes. And it will keep changing. It could be better Frizzell’s compassionate, compulsive prose fizzes with imaginative humour and metaphor... I admire Frizzell’s bravery, candour and campaigning spirit. Her critique of a society where inadequate, outdated government policy and workplace culture perpetuate gender inequality is sure to spark crucial conversations.- the Evening Standard

There is so much about womanhood that feels indefinable. And yet with her definitions of the flux, and the panic years, Nell manages to define the indefinable - as well as uniting childfree women and mothers, where the two are so often pitted against one another. Lyrical, moving and thorough, this is a memoir, a feminist text and a piece of social commentary. Every millennial woman should have it on her bookshelf'. - Pandora Sykes In fact, it’s pretty unavoidable. After two years of stay and plays, rhyme times, playgroups and pantomimes, I can now belt out several rounds of “Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon” or “Old MacDonald” in a room full of people, without the tiniest worry that they can hear. Life with a toddler is like a karaoke bar, except you’re pretty much sober all the time and nobody tips. Describing loneliness will make you feel like you’ve just pulled up your T-shirt to show everybody a scarA must-read... sharp, funny, it chronicles all of the big decisions a woman is expected to make between the ages of 25-40: where to live, if they should marry, what to do with one's career. And that other biggie: to have a baby or not'. - Culture Whisper I don’t know a single woman my age who hasn’t experienced the phenomenon that Nell articulates so bloody perfectly. Her writing is funny and beautiful and smart and I can’t tell you how necessary this book is!’

It continued: “In Holding the Baby, Nell offers a brilliant blend of the personal and political – an honest, reassuring and sharply observed account of her own experience, but also a rallying cry for real change for new parents. We can’t wait to share it with readers next year.”Think you’ve spotted a pattern in when your baby is tired? Think you’ve worked out what they’ll eat? Think you’ve formed a routine? Think you know them now? Well, make hay while the sun shines, my friends, because it won’t last. Change, movement, momentum, addition, variation, transformation, variety, difference, and propulsion are the only absolute constant in your life now. Everything changes. And it will keep changing. It could be better You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here.