Overview

"""In this honest memoir, May recounts how she came to feel connected with her body again. It's a moving work for new moms about a subject that is often overlooked in conversations about postpartum depression."" —Real Simple Molly Caro May grapples with questions of grief and rage as she undergoes several unexpected health issues after the birth of her first child. Body Full of Stars both reveals deeper truths about how disconnected many modern women are from their bodies and celebrates the greatest story of all time: mothers and daughters, partners and co–parents, and the feminine power surging beneath it all."

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9781640092075

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Reviews

Praise for Body Full of Stars 1 of The Best Books of 2018 So Far (Real Simple) In this honest memoir, May recounts how she came to feel connected with her body again. It's a moving work for new moms about a subject that is often overlooked in conversations about postpartum depression. --Real Simple, 1 of The Best Books of 2018 (So Far) In this raw and lyrical book, the author holds nothing back. From the blinding rages to the blackest emotional abysses, she records all with an eloquence that is both powerful and restorative . . . A searingly eloquent memoir. --Kirkus Reviews Her brutally honest account is both deeply personal and comfortingly universal. She doesn't shy away from the pain--emotional, physical, cultural, generational--of what she calls her 'passage into motherhood' . . . Her best, clearest, most lyrical writing practically dances off the page when she's describing her love for her daughter. --PureWow Oh, you thought motherhood was all sweetness and light? Then this book is here, finally, to set you straight . . . I have never read anything so honest about the transition into motherhood before, and after crossing that threshold so recently myself, I am immensely grateful to May for putting it down on paper for all the world to see. The way we tell our stories matters, and May points out that who we tell them to often dictates the how . . . Everyone who reads this book will also benefit from a generous, accurate, and hopeful story that ends not with a happily ever after but with honesty, dignity, and strength in the face of life's ongoing challenges, whether we are mothering our children, or just ourselves. --The Rumpus May's writing is intensely, beautifully visceral and she brings a new perspective to the postpartum period. --BookRiot If there was ever a person who could express through her tender use of language, the pain, upset and rage that so many new mothers feel in the dark, it's Molly Caro-May. --Mama Glow Her book is so highly relatable and gorgeously written that you will find yourself instantly transported back to the rawest feelings and experiences of your own postpartum period--and you will feel relieved that someone out there is willing to be 100% honest about what it's like . . . Caro May . . . is a true heroine for being able to give voice to these feelings in her compelling, brutally honest book. --Scary Mommy Her healing memoir unabashedly begins a long-neglected conversation about postpartum rage and the power of reconnecting with your body that many a mom will appreciate. --Pregnancy & Newborn What a beautiful, heart-filled, and honest account of motherhood and womanhood overall. We need more brave voices like Molly Caro May's. --Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake, creators of The Business of Being Born and authors of Your Best Birth Radiant. Bursting with wisdom and wit, raw with honesty, full of the truth. This book is nothing short of remarkable, life affirming, and breathtaking. --Mira Ptacin, author of Poor Your Soul This book is an ancient call from our first mothers to connect to our bodies--for our own good and for the good of humanity. Through sharing her fierce and shattering story, Molly May goes straight to the pelvis of female rage and echoes the legacy of the sacred feminine. It is healing, illuminated. --Laura Munson, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Not The Story You Think It Is... As a naturopathic physician and someone who walks with women through postpartum struggles, I found this book inspiring, deeply moving, and illustrative of the tremendous strength of women, mothers--and fathers. Molly has added a vital story to the perinatal body of literature. Loved it! --Christine White Deeble, ND, Black Bear Naturopathic Clinic This is the biggest story of humanity that is rarely told--the way in which birth isn't just the passage for our existence on the planet, but how it breaks, transforms, and emboldens women worldwide. Molly May's unflinching telling of her own rage and reconstitution after birth is beyond brave. It's paradigm-shifting. --Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection Harms Young Women There is something in May's voice that feels ancient to me and like a well-worn trail that I have followed so many times I could run it at night with no moon. --Melissa Bangs, writer/performer of Playing Monopoly with God & Other True Stories Body Full of Stars is a stunning account of the most transformational and revolutionary act for women. I don't know if the world will ever accept and cease to fear the ineffable wisdom and inviolable power of the female body. But we can, ourselves. --Meggan Watterson, author of Reveal Praise for The Map of Enough The Map of Enough offers readers a richly considered perspective and, for many, a glimpse of a sweet settled life lived far away. --Orion Magazine The Map of Enough is moving, poetic, and addictive. May's sense of wonder at her new world and adventurous spirit is admirable and contagious, but even more important is the way she inspires us to question our own deeply-held beliefs about home and happiness. --Elle A more homegrown version of Eat, Pray, Love... [...] readers will find much to ponder in this journey to home and family. An obvious choice for book groups eager for rich discussions on the road less traveled. --Booklist In an impressive debut memoir, a self-proclaimed Woman of the World chronicles her journey to find a home. May joins the ranks of Gretel Ehrlich and Annie Proulx, celebrants of sagebrush, big skies, and journeys of self-discovery --May's poetic, gleaming prose makes palpable the wildness and wind, freezing and thawing earth, delicate fragrances of grass and budding trees--and her own profound transformation. --Kirkus, (starred review) More than a story of building an adobe, it's about yurt life and its connections to nature and the elements, and offers keys to understanding the lure of a nomadic home that can be disassembled and moved at the blink of an eye. Any interested in mobile living and yurts will find this an inspirational, revealing autobiography packed with insights and encouragement. --The Midwest Book Review Could a wanderer learn to stay put without stagnating? Could a woman brought up without survival skills learn to build her own shelter, split firewood, grow food? Could a browser of the Internet keep from drowning in the electronic sea of possibilities? Could she learn to be fully present to her life without hankering to be elsewhere? Molly Caro May tackles all these questions, and more, in prose as candid and lucid as an April morning. She holds the hard-won answers lightly, open to correction from fresh experience. --Scott Russell Sanders, Earth Works: New & Selected Essays. This is a book about possibilities--about the author's, yes, but also about all of us. Read it and be implicated! --Bill McKibben, author of Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist The Map of Enough is a joyful adventure. It doesn't hurt that our guide on that adventure is the exuberant, complex, thoughtful, and boisterous Molly Caro May, a placeless woman trying to find her place. It turns out that that place is a yurt in Montana, as archetypal as Thoreau's cabin. In sentences that are beautiful and lyric, May makes us think about our own lives and how we choose to pass our days on earth. --David Gessner, author of My Green Manifesto In Molly Caro May's debut memoir, May and her fianc e Chris move to her family's land in Montana for a one-year stay... May's exceptional use of imagery effortlessly captures the atmosphere of Montana countryside, making it familiar yet mysterious? For Molly, the move is more than just breaking away from mundane life; it is an exploratory process of finding purpose and connection with her inner self. May's clean writing and excellent use of sensory detail produces a tangible effect of the land. The reader can smell the earth; feel the cold, damp snow; hear twigs snapping and birds chirping. The landscape comes alive on every page. May's thought-provoking journey will challenge the reader to question their own lives. --Billings Gazette In her beautifully written memoir [May] explores the challenge and allure of creating a real home in an age of ever-more-virtual interactions - and reminds us why we love the West. --Sunset Magazine

Praise for Body Full of Stars 1 of the Best Books of 2018 So Far (Real Simple) In this honest memoir, May recounts how she came to feel connected with her body again. It's a moving work for new moms about a subject that is often overlooked in conversations about postpartum depression. --Real Simple, 1 of The Best Books of 2018 (So Far) May's purpose in this book is to raise awareness about some of the unspoken issues associated with pregnancy and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and to connect with a community of women who may come to realize that they are not alone. --Ilana Lucas, Brit + Co, Our Favorite Feminist Nonfiction of the Year In this raw and lyrical book, the author holds nothing back. From the blinding rages to the blackest emotional abysses, she records all with an eloquence that is both powerful and restorative . . . A searingly eloquent memoir. --Kirkus Reviews Her brutally honest account is both deeply personal and comfortingly universal. She doesn't shy away from the pain--emotional, physical, cultural, generational--of what she calls her 'passage into motherhood' . . . Her best, clearest, most lyrical writing practically dances off the page when she's describing her love for her daughter. --PureWow Oh, you thought motherhood was all sweetness and light? Then this book is here, finally, to set you straight . . . I have never read anything so honest about the transition into motherhood before, and after crossing that threshold so recently myself, I am immensely grateful to May for putting it down on paper for all the world to see. The way we tell our stories matters, and May points out that who we tell them to often dictates the how . . . Everyone who reads this book will also benefit from a generous, accurate, and hopeful story that ends not with a happily ever after but with honesty, dignity, and strength in the face of life's ongoing challenges, whether we are mothering our children, or just ourselves. --The Rumpus May's writing is intensely, beautifully visceral and she brings a new perspective to the postpartum period. --BookRiot If there was ever a person who could express through her tender use of language, the pain, upset and rage that so many new mothers feel in the dark, it's Molly Caro-May. --Mama Glow Her book is so highly relatable and gorgeously written that you will find yourself instantly transported back to the rawest feelings and experiences of your own postpartum period--and you will feel relieved that someone out there is willing to be 100% honest about what it's like . . . Caro May . . . is a true heroine for being able to give voice to these feelings in her compelling, brutally honest book. --Scary Mommy Her healing memoir unabashedly begins a long-neglected conversation about postpartum rage and the power of reconnecting with your body that many a mom will appreciate. --Pregnancy & Newborn What a beautiful, heart-filled, and honest account of motherhood and womanhood overall. We need more brave voices like Molly Caro May's. --Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake, creators of The Business of Being Born and authors of Your Best Birth Radiant. Bursting with wisdom and wit, raw with honesty, full of the truth. This book is nothing short of remarkable, life affirming, and breathtaking. --Mira Ptacin, author of Poor Your Soul This book is an ancient call from our first mothers to connect to our bodies--for our own good and for the good of humanity. Through sharing her fierce and shattering story, Molly May goes straight to the pelvis of female rage and echoes the legacy of the sacred feminine. It is healing, illuminated. --Laura Munson, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Not The Story You Think It Is... As a naturopathic physician and someone who walks with women through postpartum struggles, I found this book inspiring, deeply moving, and illustrative of the tremendous strength of women, mothers--and fathers. Molly has added a vital story to the perinatal body of literature. Loved it! --Christine White Deeble, ND, Black Bear Naturopathic Clinic This is the biggest story of humanity that is rarely told--the way in which birth isn't just the passage for our existence on the planet, but how it breaks, transforms, and emboldens women worldwide. Molly May's unflinching telling of her own rage and reconstitution after birth is beyond brave. It's paradigm-shifting. --Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection Harms Young Women There is something in May's voice that feels ancient to me and like a well-worn trail that I have followed so many times I could run it at night with no moon. --Melissa Bangs, writer/performer of Playing Monopoly with God & Other True Stories Body Full of Stars is a stunning account of the most transformational and revolutionary act for women. I don't know if the world will ever accept and cease to fear the ineffable wisdom and inviolable power of the female body. But we can, ourselves. --Meggan Watterson, author of Reveal Praise for The Map of Enough The Map of Enough offers readers a richly considered perspective and, for many, a glimpse of a sweet settled life lived far away. --Orion Magazine The Map of Enough is moving, poetic, and addictive. May's sense of wonder at her new world and adventurous spirit is admirable and contagious, but even more important is the way she inspires us to question our own deeply-held beliefs about home and happiness. --Elle A more homegrown version of Eat, Pray, Love... [...] readers will find much to ponder in this journey to home and family. An obvious choice for book groups eager for rich discussions on the road less traveled. --Booklist In an impressive debut memoir, a self-proclaimed Woman of the World chronicles her journey to find a home. May joins the ranks of Gretel Ehrlich and Annie Proulx, celebrants of sagebrush, big skies, and journeys of self-discovery --May's poetic, gleaming prose makes palpable the wildness and wind, freezing and thawing earth, delicate fragrances of grass and budding trees--and her own profound transformation. --Kirkus, (starred review) More than a story of building an adobe, it's about yurt life and its connections to nature and the elements, and offers keys to understanding the lure of a nomadic home that can be disassembled and moved at the blink of an eye. Any interested in mobile living and yurts will find this an inspirational, revealing autobiography packed with insights and encouragement. --The Midwest Book Review Could a wanderer learn to stay put without stagnating? Could a woman brought up without survival skills learn to build her own shelter, split firewood, grow food? Could a browser of the Internet keep from drowning in the electronic sea of possibilities? Could she learn to be fully present to her life without hankering to be elsewhere? Molly Caro May tackles all these questions, and more, in prose as candid and lucid as an April morning. She holds the hard-won answers lightly, open to correction from fresh experience. --Scott Russell Sanders, Earth Works: New & Selected Essays. This is a book about possibilities--about the author's, yes, but also about all of us. Read it and be implicated! --Bill McKibben, author of Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist The Map of Enough is a joyful adventure. It doesn't hurt that our guide on that adventure is the exuberant, complex, thoughtful, and boisterous Molly Caro May, a placeless woman trying to find her place. It turns out that that place is a yurt in Montana, as archetypal as Thoreau's cabin. In sentences that are beautiful and lyric, May makes us think about our own lives and how we choose to pass our days on earth. --David Gessner, author of My Green Manifesto In Molly Caro May's debut memoir, May and her fianc e Chris move to her family's land in Montana for a one-year stay... May's exceptional use of imagery effortlessly captures the atmosphere of Montana countryside, making it familiar yet mysterious? For Molly, the move is more than just breaking away from mundane life; it is an exploratory process of finding purpose and connection with her inner self. May's clean writing and excellent use of sensory detail produces a tangible effect of the land. The reader can smell the earth; feel the cold, damp snow; hear twigs snapping and birds chirping. The landscape comes alive on every page. May's thought-provoking journey will challenge the reader to question their own lives. --Billings Gazette In her beautifully written memoir [May] explores the challenge and allure of creating a real home in an age of ever-more-virtual interactions - and reminds us why we love the West. --Sunset Magazine

Author Information

Molly Caro May is the author of The Map of Enough and Body Full of Stars. She received a writing fellowship at the Taft–Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center, and her work has appeared in Salon, The Hairpin, Orion, and Fourth Genre. After living in six countries and eight U.S. states, she has now made a home in Montana, where she lives with her husband, two young daughters, and Great Dane mutt. Find out more at mollycaromay.com

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