Miscarriage.
The word sends shivers down your spine, and before, it was all too easy to think it would never happen to you.
Sadly, miscarriage in Australia is far more common than you might imagine. A shocking one in four pregnancies ends this way, with over 100,000 Australian families affected.
This subject is so tough to talk about, and it often gets brushed under the carpet.
If you’ve suffered a miscarriage, here are 10 great books to read. They can serve as a useful starting point on the journey to recovering from this tragic loss. Take your time.
1) Saying Goodbye: A Personal Story of Baby Loss and 90 Days of Support to Walk You Through Grief by Zoe Clark
The author shares some personal miscarriage stories during the opening chapters of this memoir. The latter part of the book outlines some useful ways women who have suffered a miscarriage can work toward acknowledging their grief, and, just as importantly, commemorate the life of their baby.
2) Brokenhearted Hope: Encouraging Stories of Faithfulness, Healing and Hope In The Midst of Miscarriage and Loss by Heather Shipley
This collection of stories allows anyone who has experienced the heartbreak of a miscarriage to take encouragement from others who have walked the same road. These stories illustrate hope after such a catastrophe, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time.
3) Option B Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl was faced with losing Dave, her husband and the father of her young children. Through the lens of this crippling loss, Sheryl explored the need to be resilient, in order to rediscover joy when life seemed nothing but darkness. Many women who have suffered from miscarriages have found a great deal of solace in the pages of this book.
4) Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother by Peggy Orenstein
A memoir recounted with piercing wit, Orenstein relates her recovery from breast cancer and infertility interwoven with accounts of several miscarriages. After all this tragedy, the author finally falls pregnant and successfully carries a daughter to term. Exercising a light touch and using comedy as an effective tool, this memoir is never glib, but always instructive.
5) About What Was Lost: Twenty Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope by Jessica Berger Gross
The main premise of this collection of stories from twenty writers is to encourage a more open and honest dialogue about the nightmare of pregnancy loss.
6) Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning The Hard Way by Shauna Niequist
While only one chapter in this book centres on miscarriage, the entire memoir is focused on the themes of death and change, central to anyone who’s suffered from a miscarriage. Despite the gloomy subject matter, Niequist writes in an upbeat and amusing tone, that lightens the atmosphere while giving any woman in pain a nice injection of hope.
7) I Will Carry You The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy by Angie Smith
While Angie Smith’s book doesn’t deal with miscarriage, she nevertheless delivered her daughter in the full knowledge she would not live. This exquisitely crafted story tells of a harrowing set of circumstances, which is laced with a message of hope when everything seemed hopeless.
8) An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
This memoir is focused on how McCracken copes after finding out, during the ninth month of pregnancy, that her baby was dead. It is a shocking story, interjected with light humour, but will encourage any woman battling to come to terms with losing a baby.
9) Baby Dust by Deanna Roy
Deanna Roy’s novel is based on the real-life experiences of women who have undergone the acute trauma of miscarriage. It is packed with useful insights on coping and returning to some semblance of normality when everything seems futile.
10) Saying Goodbye Without Saying Hello by RaeBeth McGee-Buda
The memoir outlines how RaeBeth coped when she failed to carry her baby to term. The idea of loss is thoroughly explored without ever straying into a depressed tone.
