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Julia Hollander
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Publisher | John Murray | ||
ISBN | 9780719564574 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
After moving to the country to start a new life together away from the pressures of London, Julia and Jay had it all. Pregnant with their second child, Julia looked forward to a happy, complete family. But giving birth to this baby was not the straightforward experience it had been with the first. There were complications. Every mother's worst fear began to take shape as Julia realised that something was wrong. The months that followed involved endless hospital visits and consultations with doctors as she tried to convert her mother's instinct into a concrete diagnosis. Eventually it became clear that Julia's baby was severely disabled. When the Bough Breaks is an account of one woman's coming to terms with loss and the decision she has to make. It is also a portrait of a mother's love, strength and courage in the most difficult circumstances.
Review
When the Bough Breaks is a beautifully written and expressed book about an extraordinarily difficult subject. It is important to stress that it is also a very loving book that brings up challenging responses in any human being, let alone any parent.
I have read it and I am struck by the fact that the author Julia is only too aware of all the troubling ramifications of her story. She describes the darkest times and hours in great depth. One thing that really floored me about this book is that we as humans and particularly as parents, want certainties at dreadful times, and doctors want to give us guidance to plan our future - but, should a neurologist say "this child has no intelligence"?
It seems a very uncaring and disconcerting way that this doctor should finally give an answer to the questions the family have been asking, and yet not give the family time to question what they have been told. After all the brain is a mysterious place and some transformation is surely always possible. It is evident that for Julia, this was the statement that induced total panic.
The book also highlights awful weakness in our so called caring social services, where the birth mother is not offered the support that a foster mother can get. How come even after fighting for nearly a year that they still could not get help and, had to literally leave the child in the hospital to get any kind of respite care.
'When the Bough Breaks' is written with great love and Julia's descriptions of the natural world around her and how it links in with her emotions during this terrible period of her life are profound. I think much is missed by those who read extracts and summaries especially because if you can't read the whole book you wont get the full flavour of what is being talked about.
Julia Hollander has been very open about the families feelings and there is a comment on the back cover of the book written by Professor Robert Winston, who knows so much about babies and infertility and he states "This is an agonising conflict tempered by love and bravery" and I feel that this says it all.
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