A heart-wrenching insight into what must have been such a fragile, overwhelming and terrifying time - yet there’s humour in there too. Beautiful

[Segal] writes with delicate eloquence, combining passion and comic understatement so deftly that this feels the only way the book could have been written… I don’t think I’ve turned the pages so urgently in a book about motherhood before

A beautiful memoir: wise, moving and profoundly humane. Segal writes with such exquisite clarity that each word is a gift, each sentence a votive offering. Mother Ship moved me to tears, but it also taught me the unassailable power of decency and kindness when life is at its most fragile and vulnerable. A book that left me changed for having read it

As gripping as a thriller and as moving as a love story

A compelling and emotionally taut exploration of what it means to be a parent in unexpected and challenging circumstances... The pages of Mother Ship are filled with love, anguish, despair and hope in the face of adversity. As a memoir, it is both insightful and moving; as a diary of 56 days in neonatal care, it is an exquisitely written paean to motherhood

I was bowled over by the beauty and terror of Mother Ship. I’m in awe of Francesca Segal’s honesty and courage, never mind her sublime, subtle writing. This is a vital, necessary book, not just about motherhood but about survival, care and the sustaining power of women in adversity

This is a marvellous humbling book about the fear and joy of giving birth to incredibly tiny premature twins. It's so tender, so moving, so blackly comic, and so involving your own heart beats fast as you read on.

[A] radiant memoir… Segal writes beautifully… Mother Ship stands out most of all for its refreshing absence of solipsism… Instead, she has written a paean to the depthless kindness of other people: the solidarity of fellow mothers who sustain each other with pastries and sound advice; the peerless machinery of the NHS, with its unsung army of workers… Segal’s writing…serves as its own restorative act of love

Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and Mother Ship is a masterclass in style. A beautiful, lyrical memoir that navigates the unpredictable landscape of NICU and the will to survive.

Transcendent, moving, but thoughtful and necessary too, Mother Ship is its own miraculous achievement

Heart-wrenching, heart-warming and heartfelt – Mother Ship is a beautifully crafted, warts-and-all love letter to our wonderful NHS

[Mother Ship] deals with everything from libido to breastfeeding in a way that is simultaneously heart wrenching and deeply funny

Francesca’s writing is vivid and moving, bruised and beautiful, in this almost painfully tender account of precarious motherhood

Beautifully written and profoundly moving… A powerful, poetic and deeply affecting reminder of precious your life and health are

A gorgeously written account of the 56 days the writer Francesca Segal spent with her critically ill twin girls in ICU after they were born ten weeks prematurely. Part thriller, part love letter to her daughters and the NHS

A tender, truthful, heartbreaking meditation on motherhood. There are medical emergencies, worries and Francesca's constant guilt. But there's also love, and gratitude for the support of the NHS and her fellow mothers. Beautiful

I can't think of another book I have read recently that has made me laugh and cry so much. It is full of wisdom, and humour.

Even if I wasn't a new mother, I would have found Mother Ship absorbing and emotionally charged, but reading it in bursts while my own baby was napping, it was almost unbearably painful – and beautiful too. Almost every chapter brought tears to my eyes as we learned of the twins' hard-won developments. I'm so glad Francesca managed to capture this difficult time – her book is a beacon of hope.

I loved Francesca Segal’s luminous memoir. It captures so much of what it is like to have a baby in special care and to start being a mother not-at-home. It is so good on resilience, friendship and love

Mother Ship is a beautiful, poetic book about a different kind of motherhood, or at least a different start to motherhood that you don't hear as much about. It educated me about the shadowy other world of birth, that of severely prem babies... It's an exceptionally well-written memoir

[Segal] is a natural, fluent writer and, in this book, the reader will feel confident in her hands even as she explores a shattering episode in family life… Segal is brilliant at conveying the tedium and the trials of life in the ICU and beyond. In short, Mother Ship is simply compelling

Hopeful, harrowing…and darkly funny, Mother Ship has you laughing, crying and frantically turning the pages to discover how it all turns out

[Segal’s] words are a powerful, poetic and deeply affecting reminder of how precious are life, health and the everyday

Segal's moving memoir reveals not only what it takes to keep premature babies alive, but also what it means to be human and a mother

Mother Ship is a huge achievement for Segal, who has produced a memoir that promises to linger with you like a literary earworm… an extraordinary testament to the power of human survival

Vivid, fearless and inspiring… This is an intimate and electrifying memoir. It is a hymn to the sustaining power of women's friendships, and a loving celebration of the two small girls – and their mother – who defy the odds

A deeply moving, yet also witty and heart-warming account

[Segal] captures beautifully the complexities and contradictions of the human body

An ode to the companionship of the women on the neonatal ward in the darkest, most volatile days, it is moving but never mawkish

A song of praise to the beleaguered, indomitable NHS, with writing at such a pitch that it lingered with me all year

A heart-tugging account… this is one of the year’s most exquisitely written books