The Whole Intimate Mess: Motherhood, Politics, and Women's Writing

Bridget Williams Books, 2017. Previous owner's name inside.

?I began to pull the threads of my experience back together. Instead of divergent stories about public failure, private torment, and postnatal distress, I started telling myself a united story: the truth, or as close as I could get to it.?

A Rhodes scholar and former Green MP, Holly Walker tells the story of how she became one of New Zealand?s youngest parliamentarians, how motherhood intervened, and how she found solace and solidarity in the writings of women. This short book makes a passionate case for the role of literature in political change and personal resilience, and for the importance of women?s voices in the public sphere.

BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Commissioned as short digital-first works, BWB Texts unlock diverse stories, insights and analysis from the best of our past, present and future New Zealand writing.