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Book Cover for: Television for Women, Danit Brown

Television for Women

Danit Brown

For fans of Nightbitch, a darkly humorous debut novel asks what happens when motherhood isn't all it's cracked up to be . . .

Estie isn't sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn't even sure she likes her husband anymore, especially after he hid that he's been fired from his job. Hello parenthood! Goodbye life as Estie imagined it! Now, she's stranded and bloated and alone. Her cat is not a people person, and on top of it all, her best friend has been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.

After Estie gives birth, she begins to suspect that all the stories she's been told about motherhood might not be true. Having a child does not "complete" her. And that mythical connection with her baby? Well, she's still waiting. In fact, Estie fears she is destined to end up like her own mother--divorced and crying in the bathroom while her daughter stands outside the door and wonders if she's okay.

Startlingly honest and unsentimental, Television for Women explores the realities of life postpartum, the demands children make on women's identities and relationships--and the desperate lengths someone might go to in order to reclaim the person she once was.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Melville House Publishing
  • Publish Date: Jun 24th, 2025
  • Pages: 272
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.10in - 5.40in - 0.90in - 0.60lb
  • EAN: 9781685891831
  • Categories: WomenFamily Life - GeneralFriendship

About the Author

Danit Brown holds an MFA in fiction from Indiana University. Her stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Story, Glimmer Train, StoryQuarterly, and One Story. Her short story collection, Ask for a Convertible, was published in 2008. Brown currently teaches at Albion College in Michigan.

Praise for this book

"Fans of Rachel Cusk and Rachel Yoder, watch out: This knockout of a novel will have you up all night, frantically turning pages. Rarely have I felt so seen by a depiction of early motherhood, of the maternal mental load, of the cataclysmic changes women undergo when an infant enters their lives. I loved it and can't stop thinking or talking about it." --Joanna Rakoff, author of internationally bestselling book, My Salinger Year