April 2026 Book of the Month | Emma recommends... raw content - Naomi Booth

Emma says... raw content is a deeply affective and stylistically masterful exploration of the perhaps inherent uncanniness of early motherhood and one women's experience of postpartum psychological distress, specifically OCD. The novel grapples expertly with a love so intense it can feel like madness, and the ways in which our memories of being parented - and the circumstances in which this was done - resurface in our own attempts at parenting. Beautiful, evocative, empathetic, tender - read it!

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When Grace becomes unexpectedly pregnant, the rush of excitement and fear that she experiences is like joyriding again. Grace welcomes a partner and baby into her life, but after the euphoria of giving birth, she is overwhelmed by terrifying visions. The awesome beauty and dark history of Grace's childhood on Yorkshire moorlands resurfaces.

Learning how to mother forces Grace to revisit all her most intimate relationships - including with her own mother - and it transforms how she understands her place in the world, ushering in new forms of care that become sources of revelation.

Tender, vivid and brave, raw content explores the most unsettling and taboo experiences of mothering with illuminating power.