Description

In 2020, artist Tom de Freston and his wife, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, discovered they were expecting twins. But Kiran miscarried, and thus began a long road to parenthood that saw the loss of six more pregnancies. Pulsing with wonder and insight, Strange Bodies is both a deeply moving chronicle of this journey – of the role of art in making sense of grief and of the struggle to create new life – and a love letter to Kiran, exploring how powerful bonds transform as lovers become family.

Publisher Review

Unlike anything I've read before... A profound and generous book about life's fundamentals - the prenatal state, the heartbreaking experiences of miscarriage the fragility and miracle of life - written in beautiful, poetic, polymathic prose -- Lucy Jones A rare combination of breathtaking joy with deeply heartbreaking moments... A book about love and hope that transcends grief -- Pragya Agarwal I was hollowed out by Strange Bodies and then put back together. A book full of love that makes you see what really matters, both in art and life. Clever, tender, completely compelling -- Ella Risbridger Strange Bodies opens up loss and creation with generous, sensuous intelligence. The book is an intimate and loving record of an experience too often overlooked, and a revealing investigation into the mysterious ways that matter comes alive -- Caleb Klaces Remarkable. A careful drawing-forth: art and interior landscapes mingle and the reader becomes wholly absorbed, emerging horrified, grief-stricken, uplifted and profoundly moved -- Helen Mort Profoundly moving [and] full of wonder * Bookseller *