Newborn cover art

Newborn

on motherhood, home and belonging

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The new memoir from Kerry Hudson about her struggle to build a safe, loving home for her baby – the very opposite of the home she grew up in...

How do you build a family without a blueprint to work from?

Kerry Hudson grew up in poverty. Always on the move, shuttled between the care system and her chaotic mother, she left school at 15 without qualifications. Now a prize-winning writer, she looks back and asks: how do you create a different life for yourself and your family?

In Newborn we see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight – and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life – win through and light her path.


‘I've just literally devoured Newborn and absolutely loved it’ Giovanna Fletcher, Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast
‘Absorbing’ Irish Times
‘Filled with colour’ Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun
‘A rallying cry’ Herald

©2024 Kerry Hudson (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Motherhood Parenting & Families Relationships Women

Critic reviews

I've just literally devoured Newborn and absolutely loved it
Hudson nails many parents' innermost thoughts while asking if she can really give her son a different life
An absorbing read, written in Hudson's fluent, companionable prose (Jessica Traynor)
Her memoirs are a rallying cry to those still stuck in the quagmire not to let society’s low expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy
It was always going to be difficult to follow Lowborn, but Kerry Hudson is Kerry Hudson and she has done it -- cleverly, honestly, brilliantly (RODDY DOYLE)
Filled with colour: food, Prague, illness, love, the challenges of having a baby in a foreign country and making your own story (AMY LIPTROT)
All stars
Most relevant
To be able to match if not exceed Lowborn is a master stroke. I stayed up all night listening as really felt involved with her story. I usually dislike when the author reads their own story, but not in this case, Kerry Hudson has a beautiful and soft scottish accent. Wishing you congratulations for everything you have succeeded at and your continued success

Kerry Hudson is awesome

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I had my baby in October 2020 via C-section so there were a lot of parts of the book that resonated with me! a great insight into the authors life around that time and what it's like having a new born in general but also the challenges lockdown new mums had to go through. I love Lowborn and would recommend it also. I love when authors read their own books and Kerry does a really great job.

brilliant book!

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