I Am Not Your Baby Mother

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

By: Candice Brathwaite

Narrated by: Candice Brathwaite

Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

It's about time we made motherhood more diverse....

When Candice fell pregnant and stepped into the motherhood playing field, she found her experience bore little resemblance to the glossy magazine photos of women in horizontal stripe tops and the pinned discussions on Mumsnet about what pushchair to buy. Leafing through the piles of prenatal paraphernalia, she found herself wondering: 'Where are all the black mothers?'

Candice started blogging about motherhood in 2016 after making the simple but powerful observation that the way motherhood is portrayed in the British media is wholly unrepresentative of our society at large.

The result is this thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a black mother. It explores the various stages in between pregnancy and waving your child off at the gates of primary school, while facing hurdles such as white privilege, racial micro-aggression and unconscious bias at every point. Candice does so with her trademark sense of humour and refreshing straight-talking, and the result is a call-to-arms that will allow mums like her to take control, scrapping the parenting rulebook to mother their own way.

©2020 Candice Brathwaite (P)2020 Quercus Editions Limited

Truth!!!!

I had my son by c section in 2014. We almost didn’t make it. The accounts of the staff ring so true. The experiences of being a black woman with a black partner raising black children gosh it’s only one you’ll understand by living it. This book breaks down these aspects of life so well. I’m taking my seat at the other table as well. My son returned to in person school this year and the fear of the phone call is unmatched. Each day did someone say something to him about his skin about his hair…etc. Thank you Candice!!

More than what meets the eye.

Very transparent and puts her podcast and social media into full circle loved every bit of it!

A manifesto of division, hatred and ignorance

On the bright side this an authentic autobiography which clearly details the author’s perception of their experiences.

Beyond the anger and generalisations which ironically so frustrate the author when levelled against her home community, there is little evaluation, self-analysis nor any desire to understand the complex factors delivering such different outcomes to the minority communities in the U.K.

I genuinely hope this author’s views do not represent the community and demographic she claims to represent. That kind of silo thinking and bigotry will do nothing (outside the twitterari) but cement further division and poor outcomes.