Liebesmühe

When her friends ask her how she is doing, she falls silent. Since the birth of her son, she feels lost, radically controlled by others, and cut off from the world and her old life. The tiny child feels like a stranger, and she struggles to love him. Why does it suddenly seem that everything she was convinced of – as a scientist, as a feminist, as a woman – is no longer valid? Christina Wessely tells the touching story of becoming a mother, impressively combining personal and essayistic exploration. With intelligence and tenderness, she outlines her self-understanding as an emancipated woman – in collision with common notions of motherhood, femininity, and love.