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The Mommy Group

Freaking Out, Finding Friends, and Surviving the Happiest Time of Our Lives

About The Book

“Elizabeth Isadora Gold writes vividly and humorously about the trials and trip-outs of new-motherhood.” —The New Yorker

“If you only read one parenting book this year, make it The Mommy Group...This book is incisive, insightful, and downright delightful. I did not mean for that to rhyme” —Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F*ck to Sleep

In 2010, seven women met in Brooklyn, New York, to form a Mommy Group. Over coffee, croissants, wine, and the occasional baby carrot, they commiserated about typical new-mother issues: difficult births, babies who slept in ten-minute increments, and breast pumps that talked back in the middle of the night. And then things got complicated.

Elizabeth and Melissa suffered from postpartum depression and anxiety. Jane’s daughter was diagnosed with developmental delays. Anna’s husband left her when their baby was two weeks old. Through it all, the Mommy Group laughed, supported, and learned lessons from one another that the myriad “experts” hadn’t delivered.

The journalist of the bunch—author Elizabeth Isadora Gold—reached out to other Mommy Groups around the country and found that similar bonds were forming far beyond brownstone Brooklyn. In fact, mothers across all class, geographic, and racial boundaries appear to be searching for the same thing: a way to be strong, loving, engaged parents “while retaining—or remaking—our Selves.”

A witty, relatable, and honest look at the realities of parenthood today, The Mommy Group is a companion that will help any mom feel understood and empowered, and keep her laughing all the way.

About The Author

Photograph by Dana Miller

Elizabeth Isadora Gold’s writing about motherhood, books, music, and feminism has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, Tin House, The Rumpus, Time Out New York, and many other publications. Her piece about her postpartum anxiety, “Meltdown in Motherland,” was featured on the New York Times Opinionator blog. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and young daughter.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (March 1, 2016)
  • Length: 304 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781476785875

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Raves and Reviews

Praise for The Mommy Group:
"If you only read one parenting book this year--and frankly, that is the highest number you should even consider--make it The Mommy Group. Elizabeth Isadora Gold has the chops, the wit, and the heart to take it where few dare to tread; this book is incisive, insightful, and downright delightful. I did not mean for that to rhyme."

– Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F*ck to Sleep

“Elizabeth Isadora Gold writes vividly and humorously about the trials and trip-outs of new-motherhood.”

– The New Yorker

“Gold’s main assertion is on point: finding and building relationships with peers is critical for new mothers in an era when many no longer have preexisting support networks. This is more than a flippant celebration of the power of women together, thanks to frank, personal sharing about challenging topics like postpartum anxiety, as well as unvarnished portraits of Gold’s friends and their children.”

– Publishers Weekly

“The Mommy Group lays bare the importance of female friendshipduring parenthood and serves as a much needed antidote to the mommy wars.”

– Elle Magazine

"...upends the notion that parenting is meant to be a solo gig. The Mommy Group: Freaking Out, Finding Friends, and Surviving the Happiest Time of Our Lives by Elizabeth Isadora Gold follows a group of women in a flush section of Brooklyn who weather miscarriages, births, sleep training, and the sea changes that motherhood brings to one's sense of self."

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Blending elements of memoir and journalism, the book follows a group of seven Brooklyn women...the struggles they face are those that can happen to all mothers, from all backgrounds....There's a lot of humor in "The Mommy Group"-when you're getting sleep in one-hour chunks and feel permanently connected to a breast pump, you pretty much have to laugh to keep from crying- but Gold has a serious message too. By telling our stories, she argues, women can not only support each other but push for political change as well."

– Salon

“Elizabeth Isadora Gold’s The Mommy Group is a mordantly funny, deeply poignant look at the pleasures and perils of early motherhood. It is also a testament to the power of female friendship, and a wakeup call to policy-makers that this nation must do more for its moms. The Mommy Group is a must-read for anyone who is a mother or cares about one.”

– Amy Sohn, author of Motherland and The Actress

"When women get together to tell the truth about their lives, amazing things happen—as you shall see when you read Elizabeth Isadora Gold's funny, touching parenting memoir!"

– Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Manifesta and Look Both Ways

"Like the very best friends, The Mommy Group is warm and witty, reassuring and generous, and always so refreshingly honest. It should be required reading for all expectant parents."

– Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia

“This vital, comprehensive book is effectively a mommy group unto itself: a glorious, harmonious, companionable chorus of voices. It’s a consciousness raising, a rallying cry, the drum of our collective heartbeat. It’s also an essential reminder that the struggle for reproductive justice encompasses much more than birth control. Gold has done humankind a solid. Are you a mother? Did you have a mother? Read it.”

– Elisa Albert, author of After Birth

“Part memoir, part cultural exposé, The Mommy Group lays bare our lack of support for those who bear our children, while also celebrating the remarkable—but not uncommon—determination of new mothers to support each other in our post-Lean In country, a land of unsubsidized childcare and unpaid parental leave. Touching on topics as diverse as envy, Cry It Out, and what it really feels like to have sex after pushing out a baby, Elizabeth Isadora Gold is the perfect guide through the uncharted postpartum jungle.”

– Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet

“Hilarious and heartbreaking in equal amounts, The Mommy Group will make you forget everything you think you already know about those infamous ‘mom cliques.’ Elizabeth Isadora Gold writes with warmth, generosity, and humanity about the ways moms across the country find each other, support each other, and teach each other—especially in the absence of the social safety net modern American mothers so desperately need.”

– Siobhan Adcock, author of The Barter

“Elizabeth Isadora Gold has written a lovely and much-neededbook about how a group of women helped one another ease into and survive themind-boggling journey through pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood itself. It's also a candidlook at the 'maternal industrial complex,' which controls the experience foralmost all of us.”

– Haven Kimmel, New York Times bestselling author of A Girl Named Zippy

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