The Whole Truth

No one ever talks about it like this.

It’s not that they don’t want to, and they might even start to, it’s just that they don’t really have time to get into it, between the diaper changes, the soccer practices and all the other interruptions that come along with the business of motherhood.

The brilliantly titled and hot-off-the press (just yesterday) Between Interruptions: 30 Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood (Key Porter Books, $32.95) is the first anthology of Canadian writing about motherhood and it dares to start the conversation about the huge transformation women experience when they become mothers, the choices and decisions they’ve faced, the identity/career/relationship crisis (hopefully not all at the same time), the gut-wrenching love for their children and many other thoughts, often left unspoken, when children’s lives interrupt our own.

The book is the brainchild of Cori Howard, a Vancouver-based savvy mom of two and an award-winning journalist. As an offering to mothers everywhere, Cori brought together 30 remarkable Canadian mothers who’ve crafted their stories of motherhood to share with other moms through this book.

Strikingly honest, entertaining and thought-provoking, Between Interruptions brings those conversations of motherhood, the ones we all wish we had time for, together in a very accessible way (you can read one short story at a time—perfect for fitting in between those many interruptions) and highlights the fact that we’re not in this motherhood thing alone.

Among the 30 stories, each great in its own right, we were fascinated by Chantal Kreviazuk’s search for work-family balance, struck by our very own TO Mama Jen Lawrence’s amazing fight against post-partum depression, amused (we’ve all been there) by Katrina Onstad’s search for friends in Mommyland after the birth of her first child, and inspired by Estée Klar-Wolfond’s journey of discovery with her autistic son. Other contributors include Carrie-Anne Moss, Monika Deol, Elizabeth Renzetti, Leanne Delap and Ami McKay.

And when we finished the book and sat back and thought about it, we realized these moms are telling our stories too.

It’s just that they can write a lot better than most of us.

Available at Indigo Books

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