Reblog: Dead Babies and Seaside Towns by Alice Jolly

dead babies 2

In November 2015 I read the moving and captivating Dead Babies and Seaside Towns by Alice Jolly. At the time I had no idea that just over four months later on 17th March 2016 my niece would sadly give birth to a still born full term daughter, Emma Faith. As today would have been Emma’s first birthday, I wanted to mark the occasion with a reminder of Alice’s wonderful book.

You can read my review of Dead Babies and Seaside Towns and my interview with Alice Jolly here.

Now with a brand new cover, Dead Babies and Seaside Towns will be published in paperback by Unbound, an imprint of Penguin, on 23rd March 2017 and is available for pre-order here.

Dead Babies and Seaside Towns

dead babies 2

When Alice Jolly’s second child was stillborn and all subsequent attempts to have another baby failed, she began to consider every possible option, no matter how unorthodox.

Shot through with humour and full of hope, Dead Babies and Seaside Towns is an intensely personal account of the search for an alternative way to create a family. As she battles through miscarriage, IVF and failed adoption attempts, Alice finds comfort in the faded charm of Britain’s crumbling seaside towns.

The journey ultimately leads her and her husband to a small town in Minnesota, and to two remarkable women who offer to make the impossible possible.

In this beautifully written book, Alice Jolly describes with a novelist’s skill the events that many others have lived through – even if they may feel compelled to keep them hidden. Her decision not to hide but to share them, without a trace of self-pity, turns Dead Babies and Seaside Towns into a universal story: one that begins in tragedy but ends in joy.

About Alice Jolly

alice jolly

Alice Jolly is a novelist and playwright.

She has published two novels with Simon and Schuster and has been commissioned four times by the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. She has also written for Paines Plough and her work has been performed at The Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden and The Space, East London. Her memoir Dead Babies and Seaside Towns was published by Unbound in July 2015 and won the Pen/Ackerley Prize. In 2014 one of her short stories won The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize.

She teaches creative writing on the Mst at Oxford University.

Find out more about Alice on her web site or follow her on Twitter. You can also find her on Facebook.

16 thoughts on “Reblog: Dead Babies and Seaside Towns by Alice Jolly”

  1. I’m so sorry to hear you all lost Emma Faith 😔 It’s heart breaking.
    My step-sister lost her first daughter, Natasha Jai, at 37 weeks pregnant. She would have been 16 on 14th April. I was pregnant with Taylor at the time. So, so sad. Xx

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Thanks for this post and condolences on the loss of Emma Faith. I bought this book with my birthday money from my mum in 2015. I know only too well how a stillborn baby remains part of your life. My Alice Hannah would have been 32 by now.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Thanks so much for calling by. I’m sure you think of Alice Hannah every day. You might want to drop by again on 21st when I’ll be reviewing The Idea of You by Amanda Prowse which deals with a very similar topic.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Sue Featherstone says:

    I am #soblessed to have two healthy daughters. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child at birth. Thinking of all of you but especially your niece. x

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Touching topic people tend to igor or misunderstand. I had a still born sister and I feel the loss, but it’s not something you bring up in a conversation. It’s also hard for others to sympathise. Reading builds empathy.

    Liked by 1 person

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