Super Short Summary

In her 2002 memoir, A Life's Work, Rachel Cusk explores the challenges and transformations of motherhood during the first six months of her first-born daughter’s life. Cusk candidly details her struggle to balance selfhood with the demands of her child, examines the inadequacies of childcare literature, and finds solace in literary depictions of parenthood, all while navigating sleeplessness, social expectations, and emotional upheaval.