Motherhood

Tina Miller is Professor of Sociology at Oxford Brookes University and an internationally recognised researcher who uses qualitative, longitudinal research to trace real-time experiences of transition. She has collaborated with international organisations, policy makers and the BBC. She is the author of Making Sense of Motherhood (2005), Making Sense of Fatherhood (2010) and Making Sense of Parenthood (2017).

''I had hoped for more.' So ends Tina Miller's provocative, historically comparative look at women's experience of becoming a mother for the first time. Repeating an agenda-setting study she first undertook in the UK 21 years ago, Miller shows that, in many ways, it has never been a more challenging time to be a (working) mother. In this beautifully written, narrative-rich account, she shows how the 'intensified, individualised and undervalued' circumstances of motherhood are now deeply intertwined with pernicious (and illusive) ideas around 'balance' in the contemporary age. From one of the most authoritative scholars in the field, this book is a delightful - if troubling - read.' Charlotte Faircloth, UCL Social Research Institute, and author of Couples' Transitions to Parenthood

• Introduction; 1. Becoming a mother: generational shifts and narrative research; 2. Anticipating motherhood: the antenatal period; 3. Making sense of early mothering experiences; 4. A return to normal: becoming the 'expert'?; 5. Mothering experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; 6. Conclusions and reflections; Appendices.