Mommy Lit Review: By The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade

By The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade

"Becoming a mother brings you close to the bone, to blood, and shit, to mortality and your absolute worst fears. It may be sweet, but it can also be dark and dangerous. It is, more accurately, one of the great adventures of many women's lives. It is a quest, with the mother as hero-adventurer, encountering the pitfalls of all adventures: monsters, despair and an overarching wonder."

Review #1 - The book starts off in a very emotional and dramatic fashion with the author taking us through her own experience when she developed a life-threatening complication shortly after her son was born. An emergency hysterectomy was performed which then prevented her from having any more children.

Frances Greenslade then takes us through her experience of childbirth, her surgery and life with a new baby; the challenges she faced and the emotions she went through. She also uses her knowledge of literature (she has a Master's degree) to intertwine her personal story with pieces of myth and history.

In the end, after reading about her birthing experience, I felt very lucky and blessed with mine. I could definitely relate to her intense feelings towards her newborn baby. You feel such an overwhelming amount of love for your children that it is hard to put into words sometimes, but Greenslade captures the emotions perfectly.

Review #2 - I started reading The Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation by Frances Greenslade 3 weeks after giving birth to my daughter and was blown away by the emotions of the Greenslade's story. Her harrowing recovery from a childbirth after a life saving hysterectomy made me stop reading - just for a day or so. It's an emotionally charged few pages when she realizes that her son will be her only child and that she is lucky to be alive after her ordeal.

The Secret Ladders weaves myth and Greenslade's vast knowledge of literature about motherhood into her account of her child's first year. Greenslade isn't afraid of the dark emotions and sides of motherhood. As well,.her experience does point to problems within the Canadian medical field in obstetrics. I had a few moments, when I felt like it was me writing the book, and holding my hand up and saying, "me too!".