When it was published seven years ago, Rachel Cusk’s account of the complexities and ambivalences of motherhood - A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother - caused a storm. One columnist called for Cusk's children to be taken into care; that she was an unloving mother and unfit to look after them. Oprah Winfrey invited her on the show to defend herself. So what was so controversial about Cusk’s portrayal of her experience? As A Life’s Work is about to be reissued, she joins Jenni along with Louise Wener, who has written about her non-ambivalent joy at becoming a mother.
Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother is published by Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-23849-1
