The First Breath

Reviews

Fascinating and moving. Excellent . . . A serious journalistic investigation into foetal and neonatal medicine . . . reads like a thriller. Heartstopping A touching, insightful and engaging memoir. Part memoir, part analysis of neonatal and postnatal care. It’s wonderful. Exceptionally moving . . . a pleasure to read. A triumph of memoir-cum-non-fiction and a love story starring our heroes, the NHS . . . Totally brilliant and touching . . . tender, well researched and unputdownable, the best book I've read in the last twelve months. [The First Breath] moves effortlessly between personal stories of children and cutting edge scientific research . . . [Gordon makes] us feel the great and risky adventure of surviving a difficult childhood and becoming a person: and the linked one of being a parent . . . a wonderful, intelligent writer. Smart, sympathetic Extraordinary . . . An absorbing and awe-inspiring account of the extraordinary foetal and neonatal medicine that is enabling a new generation of babies to thrive. Genuinely brilliant…exceptionally powerful, deep and important. Absolutely gripping A book full of emotion and one that medical practitioners should read A gem…So impressed by the tenderness and science This jaw-dropping story of medical discovery is interwoven with Gordon’s own deeply moving story of her own experience as a new mother with a child in neonatal care. It conveys, brilliantly, the devastating emotional impact of being separated from one’s child, and the shock of an unexpected diagnosis. Beautifully written Pacy and accessible . . . It is the female experience of such invasive surgeries that remains the focus here; expectant mothers steeling themselves for “needles as long as rulers” and learning to navigate a “strange form of knowledge” about a child that has yet to enter the world. Very powerfully told. This touching and hopeful book skilfully interweaves medical history, reporting and – most movingly – memoir. A meticulously researched history of fetal medicine and a heartfelt account of parenting preterm babies. We take pregnancy and childbirth for granted. Now please read The First Breath and be thankful for your children’s lives. A compelling and uplifting book. A wonderfully well written, brilliant discussion of the evolution of genetics, prenatal diagnosis, fetal and neonatal medicine, ethics and popular prejudice interwoven into a framework of [the author’s] own very human story and the other mothers who tell of their experiences so graphically . . . moved me to tears. Expand reviews