Description: "For two thousand years, the Virgin Mary has been depicted throughout art, literature and culture as symbolising the perfect mother: chaste, beautiful, meek, mild and white. These supposed virtues and symbols have penetrated not just Christianity but wider popular culture; and contributed to harmful views about motherhood and what it is to be a woman. In this part-memoir, part social and theological commentary, Chine McDonald deconstructs the myth of perfect motherhood and shines a light on the dark side of parenting. From birth trauma to post-natal depression, from infertility to the mental load, the motherhood penalty and pressures on women to be and have it all - especially in the church - this book attempts to liberate motherhood from the chains in which it has been placed, reconstructing a more authentic, grace-filled way forward for the most important job in the world"--
Review Quotes: "Sometimes you don't have to make the cake." If actual flesh and blood mothers need liberating from impossible projections of perfection, so does the most famous mother of all. Dealing honestly and movingly with the complex emotions of motherhood, Chine McDonald offers us not only a deeply valuable reflection on the topic, but also a great deal of wisdom on how to use (and how not to use) myth and metaphor in understanding our humanity. A challenging, hope-filled book.--Rowan Williams - theologian, poet and 104th Archbishop of Canterbury