Narrative Non-fiction · Hardback

Is This Actually Common?

Norwegian title: Er dette virkelig vanlig?

Every sixth pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. Yet we know suprisingly little about miscarriages, both in society and in the health care system. It is not talked about enough, and many have the experience of standing alone with the loss.

Everyone who experiences a miscarriage, will hear that it is very common. But for those affected, the word common does not feel apt. Nothing feels common the day you flush down into the toilet that which you thought would become your child. Or the day you have to tell your children that they won't get a new sibling after all. The 20 stories in this book are well-written and shockingly honest, and they deal with very different experiences from both high-profile and unknown women, in addition to giving us the perspectives of a partner and a doctor.

The book is the first book in Norway to deal with this. There is a crucial need for a book like this and for a public conversations about its themes.

Stories about miscarriages is written by Mari Lilleslåtten, a social anthropologist specialising in gender and bodily autonomy, who has worked with gender research for a number of years, and Elise Frøjd, who is her colleague at the University of Oslo.

"These 20 stories of miscarriage make for distressing yet enlightening reading (...)First, people searched in encyclopedias. Then, they frequented online forums. Now, fortunately, we have this book—which enlightens, explains, and comforts all at once. Above all, it demonstrates the power that lies in knowledge, and how vital it is to share these experiences rather than carry the fear, shame, and grief alone. Together, these twenty voices form a choir of diverse experiences we ought to listen to—so that we can begin the conversation about miscarriage with something other than 'This is very common.'"FETT

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