Lisa Catherine Harper

Thursday, April 28, 7:00 p.m.

A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood  BUY NOW

Following Harper’s first pregnancy from conception to her daughter’s first word, A Double Life looks at how the biological facts of motherhood give rise to life-altering emotional and psychological changes. It shows us how motherhood transforms the female body, hijacks a woman’s mind, and splits her life in two, creating an identity both brand new and as old as time. It charts the passage from individual to incubator, from pregnancy, labor, and nursing to language acquisition, from coupledom to the complex reality of family life. 

“As an expectant mother, I would have welcomed such a book for its candor and information, which go far beyond what’s offered in pregnancy and parenting guides; today, deep into my mothering, I find its reflections speak eloquently to me about those disorienting and wondrous early days.”—Caroline Grant, coeditor of Mama, PhD and editor in chief of the online journal, Literary Mama

“For a lot of new fathers, there are two deep and inextricable mysteries: (1) All the confusing stuff that happens to your wife when she becomes a mother, and (2) All the boring books about stuff that happens to your wife when she becomes a mother. From this standpoint Lisa Catherine Harper’s funny, honest, literate, and eye-opening memoir is an absolute godsend.”—Jeff Gordinier, author of X Saves the World and editor-at-large of Details magazine  

Lisa Catherine Harper teaches in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco. She lives with her husband, an art director for feature animated films, and their two children in Redwood City.

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