A thoughtful and incisive meditation on literature, motherhood, and spiritual wellbeing from Turkey's leading female authorAfter the birth of her first child, Elif Shafak experienced a profound personal crisis. Plagued by guilt, anxiety, and bewilderment about her new maternal role, the acclaimed novelist stopped writing for the first time in her life. As she plummeted into post-partum depression, Shafak looked to the experiences of other prominent female writersincluding Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, and Alice Walkerfor help navigating the conflict between motherhood and artistic creation in a male-dominated society. Searingly honest, eloquent, and unexpectedly humorous, will be widely embraced by writers, academics, and anyone who has undergone the identity crisis engendered by being a mother.