Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Relationships

Dementia is an unmaking, a de-creation - an apocalypse of meaning. Since my father's slow-motion dying and his actual death in November 2014, I have been much preoccupied with dementia: by those who have it, by those who look after them, by the hospital wards whose beds are occupied by those in advanced stages of this self-loss, by the way society denies it, by the science of it, the art and literature about it, the philosophy, by what it means to be human, to have an identity. What is it to be oneself, and what is it to lose one's self?

Most kids get their first smartphone at the same time that they're experiencing major developmental changes. Making mistakes has always been a part of growing up, but how do parents help their kids navigate childhood and adolescence at a time when social media has the potential to magnify the consequences of those mistakes? Rather than spend all their time worrying about the worst-case scenario, listeners get a bigger-picture understanding of their kids' digital landscape.

In How Babies Sleep, pioneering and award-winning infant sleep researcher Professor Helen Ball brings together cutting-edge science, anthropological insight and practical advice to provide parents with everything they need to help them confidently – and sanely – navigate the first 365 night-times with a new baby. It will teach you how to harmonise your needs with those of your infant, and empower you to reject approaches that make you uncomfortable and experiment with strategies that work for you and your family.

Today I sat on a bench facing the sea, the one where I waited for L to be born, and sobbed my heart out. I don't know if I'll ever recover. This note was written on 9th November 2017. As the seagulls squawked overhead and the sun dipped into the sea, Alexandra Heminsley's world was turning inside out. She'd just been told her then-husband was going to transition. The revelation threatened to shatter their brand new, still fragile, family.

Laura Belbin survived hitting her 30s (oh, to be wrinkle-free again), anxiety (just), motherhood (two adorable little shits) and the new body that went with it (a left tit that sags slightly more than the right, anyone?). In Knee Deep in Life she gives a fearless and filthy account of her transformation from no-responsibilities woman to being in demand 24/7, the heartaches and humiliations, and most importantly, her (definitely-pushed-to-the-limits-but-totally-indestructible) marriage to Steve.

This is the story of a family led to confront a crisis they had never foreseen. Of a happy life with two young daughters which suddenly falters, never to be the same again. Aged 11, the eldest stops eating and speaking, while her younger sister struggles to cope. Slowly, alongside diagnoses of autism and selective mutism, their desperate parents become aware of another source for their firstborn daughter's distress: her imperilled future on a rapidly heating planet.

A few weeks before Christmas, Clover's sister died of breast cancer, aged 46. Just days before, she had been given years to live. Her sudden death split Clover's life apart. The Red of My Blood charts Clover's fearless passage through the first year after her sister's death. It is an audiobook about what life feels like when death interrupts it and about bearing the unbearable and describing an experience that seems beyond words. Lyrical, hopeful, it is also about the magical way in which death and life exist so vividly beside one another and the wonder of being human.

In The Aftergrief, acclaimed grief Coach and New York Times best-selling Author Hope Edelman helps us to understand that loss isn't something to get over, get past, or move beyond, and trying to achieve these will only lead us nowhere. Instead, she draws on her own experiences of early bereavement, as well as interviews with dozens of men and women who have lost someone dear, to answer how, individually, we can learn to live with loss and grief long-term and accept it as something that becomes a part of us and shapes our thoughts, choices, hopes and fears.

As a young Catholic girl who grew up in the American Midwest on white bread and Jesus, Erin S. Lane was given two options for a life well-lived: Mother or Mother Superior. Both were good outcomes for someone else’s life. Neither would fit the shape of hers. Interweaving Lane’s story with those of other women—including singles and couples, stepparents and foster parents, the infertile and the ambivalent—Someone Other Than a Mother challenges the social scripts that put moms on an impossible pedestal and shame childless women and nontraditional families for not measuring up.

"Do you believe in luck?" is a polarizing question, one you might ask on a first date. Some of us believe that we make our own luck. Others see inequality everywhere and think that everyone’s fate is at the whim of the cosmos. Karla Starr has a third answer: unlucky, "random" outcomes have predictable effects on our behavior that often make us act in self-defeating ways without even realizing it. Starr traces wealth, health, and happiness back to subconscious neurological processes, blind cultural assumptions, and tiny details you're in the habit of overlooking.

In this powerful and practical guide, Minaa shares therapeutic tools, client stories, and actionable insights to help you on your healing journey, along with reflections from her personal experiences. Each chapter focuses on a common emotional struggle—from overcoming dysfunctional family patterns to developing emotional maturity, finding our village, navigating racial trauma, and moving past isolation and despair.

Told through honest and relatable parenting anecdotes, Christina shares their distinctive approach to raising confident, security-conscious, resilient children, giving practical takeaways rooted in CIA tradecraft along the way. License to Parent aims to provide parents with the tools necessary to raise savvier, well-rounded kids who have the skills necessary to navigate through life.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Sisters of Battle Road by J. M. Maloney, read by Annie Aldington. In 1939, Annie Jarman and her six young daughters were evacuated from their South London home and sent to the Sussex countryside to wait out the war. Little did they know what was in store for them or how their lives would change.

The Little Book of Calm for New Mums will share advice and support on issues that new mothers face, from A for Anger, to I for Insomnia, providing an empowering pep talk for those days when new mothers need it most. Psychotherapist and mother of three Anna Mathur will support listeners through the roller coaster of feelings that come with being a new mum and provide expert advice based on her own professional and personal experiences.

There's always that moment as a parent when you feel like no matter how hard you're trying, you just can't quite get it 'right'. But the fact is, parenting is hard and once we know this and why, we can forgive ourselves for finding it a struggle, and start to look for the things that make parenting a joy. Parenting for Humans is a book first and foremost for parents. It explores what we bring to the parenting journey and how we can gain confidence in ourselves not just as parents, but as whole human beings.

Uncovering the mystery of her mother’s disappearance as a child: Laura Cumming, prize-winning author and art critic, takes a closer look at her family story. In the autumn of 1929, a small child was kidnapped from a Lincolnshire beach. Five agonising days went by before she was found in a nearby village. The child remembered nothing of these events and nobody ever spoke of them at home. It was another 50 years before she even learned of the kidnap.

After her identical twin girls were born 10 weeks prematurely, Francesca Segal finds herself sitting vigil in the ‘mother ship’ of neonatal intensive care, all romantic expectations of new parenthood obliterated. Her gripping diary of those months combines the tenderness of a love poem with the compulsive pace of a thriller. As each day brings a fresh challenge for her and her babies, Francesca makes a temporary life among a band of mothers who are vivid, fearless, and inspiring, taking care not only of their children but of one another.

One night last winter, Antoine Leiris was at home looking after his son while his wife, Hélène, was at a concert with friends. Suddenly he started receiving text messages asking if he was okay. Turning on the TV, Antoine watched the terrorist attacks in Paris unfolding around him and tried to call Hélène. She didn't answer. That night Hélène was killed, along with 88 other people, at the Bataclan Theatre. Three days later Antoine wrote an open letter to his wife's killers on Facebook. He refused to be cowed or to let his 17-month-old son's life be defined by their acts.

At the age of seven Gavanndra Hodge realised that if her home caught fire it would be up to her to rescue her family. Neither her mother lost in a world of grief, nor her drug-addled father were capable of even realising the house was burning down, let alone saving Gavanndra and her little sister, Candy. When Candy dies suddenly and tragically on holiday aged nine, their family already damaged and fragile, implodes, and a teenage Gavanndra is left to rebuild her life, piece by piece. But there is one thing missing in the happy ending she creates for herself....

Having suffered from anxiety for much of her life, Izzy Judd has brought together a brilliant and inspiring collection of simple activities and exercises to help mothers find their own piece of calm. Included are exercises for you to do alone and with your children of all ages, giving them their own tools to help remain happy and peaceful too. Mindfulness for Mums will guide you through invaluable, quick and easy self-care tips to help you find a moment's calm in the chaos of motherhood.