This is a book that sinks into your soul the more you read it. Incredibly powerful, at times raw. Motherhood with all its power and vulnerability. Wow Hélène Delforge and Quentin Gréban Mama – A World of Mothers and Motherhood is something phenomenally special. This would make a wonderful gift for Mother’s Day.
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(Trigger Warning – loss – more details further down the page)
Mama A World of Mothers and Motherhood is published in the UK by one of my favourite publishers Floris Books. They’ve made this gorgeous trailer to give you more of a glimpse inside.
Mama Synopsis
Mama is a luxurious, hardbound, large-format edition. This book has already sold 300,000 copies in 29 countries world wide. You could be forgiven for thinking this is a book just for children with it’s sublime illustrations; it’s a book for mothers, all mothers. I shared the illustrations and some of the reflections with my daughter snuggled together.
It’s a book of hopes, dreams, joys, frustrations, guilt, despair and everything in between. The myriad of emotions you can feel in just one day as a mother.
United Through Time and Across Culture
I adored Quentin’s representation of different periods of time and cultures from around the world. There’s a whole story and more in each of his portraits and the delicate line drawings that are on each double spread.
You feel the weight of emotion bestowed upon you as you glimpse into the life of each mother. As you soak in the sentiment of each image and read Hélène’s words you are drawn further into the world of mother and child. A bond. It feels private, tender, almost like a diary entry.
Intimate Reflections – One and Many
What strikes me about this book of ‘intimate reflections’ on motherhood is that each one feels very different and as if from a different voice, although there is one author. You feel the multifaceted role of being a mother encapsulated in what you read but equally from what you feel as a collective it brings you together as a whole. That each is the identity of a mother, yet it’s all mothers, together.
Mama Favourite Spread
This is my favourite image from the book. I can totally relate to the fierce protectiveness portrayed in this image. The gentle hand juxtaposed with the determination in her eyes to protect at all costs.
There’s a delightful read of an interview with both Hélène Delforge and Quentin Gréban – I hadn’t realised they were sister and brother-in-law. You can find the fascinating interview here.
Trigger Warning
This book is for all mothers and in that sentiment it is for those mothers for whom they are a mother without their child.
Thank you Elaine at Floris for sending this incredible special book to me for review.
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