"I don’t want to be more than just a mother. I want just a mother to be more than it so often is." Modern motherhood is full of complexities and contradictions. You can feel lonely despite never having any time alone, be filled with joy and despair, deep love and a deep desire to escape to freedom. You can find connection, feel isolated, wonder how you are going to get through the day ahead and find strength you never knew you possessed, all within a few hours. I wrote Motherhood Minus the Medals in an attempt to capture how it feels to be a mother in the 21st century, in a role you can’t prepare for, which can at once feel like the most valuable and least valued thing you’ll ever do. "Nelly Bryce vents her frustrations, celebrates the magic, and embraces you along the way in this thoughtful, questioning and comforting collection of poems." "I got lost in the stories, found myself in the prose, wept at it's tenderness and laughed like a drain at it's perfect observations. It is utterly breathtaking." - Joeli Brearley, Founder of Pregnant then Screwed. A 5 x 8 inch book of poetry and prose. Length - 190 pages. Author - Nelly Bryce. Cover design and edited by Rebecca Rijsdijk. All poems copyrighted - Nelly Bryce.