'A beautiful and informative companion of a book that'll help keep you grounded and present in the moments that often feel overwhelming. I found myself noting uplifting quotes I know will come in useful as mantras when needed. Anna has always been, and continues to be, a woman I take so much wisdom from. Her compassion and guidance for a mother's mental health is invaluable'

'This lovely book offers little gems of support, helping us to be in the moment and reminding us to direct some of our maternal love to ourselves. Anna Mathur's empathy and wise insight makes this an essential read for new mums'

'Like having a reassuring chat with a wise friend, Anna's kind and grounding words provide the perfect companion for new mums making sense of their vast - and at times, conflicting! - feelings'

'A tender, real and uplifting book'

'This book is going to be a lifeline for new mums. Anna has an incredible gift of offering not only her professional expertise but also love, perspective and compassion - often in just one sentence. This book is a much needed gift to the world'

'A comforting and reassuring book to help you navigate those tricky early years'

'Anna's Little Book of Calm for New Mums feels like such a reassuring and necessary companion for motherhood. Broken down into the feelings and emotions that are sometimes hard to decipher when we're in the throes of parenting, Anna has such a wonderful way of bringing comfort, clarity and insight to many of the overwhelming challenges new mums can find themselves up against. The book is accessible and written with the wisdom of an expert but the love and compassion of a friend, and I think that's what makes it such a valuable resource on the rollercoaster of motherhood'

'Such a brilliant idea for a book. Anna's punchy chapters are like bite sized pep talks which make it incredibly accessible and unbelievably comforting for overwhelmed new mums. Like getting the most brilliant advice from your wisest and warmest friend. I wish I'd had this book when I had newborn'

'Anna's a consistent source of relatable, practical and reassuring advice when it comes to navigating the mental health challenges of motherhood. Packed with soothing words to validate the messy emotions that come with being a mum, along with useful quick tips to help bring calm to the chaos, this book is a gem of support. A must-have for every bookshelf and baby-change bag!'

Stunning and interrogative. . . Brilliant. . . Calling Hauser 'honest' and 'vulnerable' feels inadequate. She embraces and even celebrates her flaws, and she revels in being a provocateur. . . Much has been written on the themes Hauser excavates here, yet her perspective is singular, startlingly so. Many narratives still position finding the perfect match as a measure of whether we've led successful lives. The Crane Wife dispenses with that. For that reason, Hauser's worldview feels fresh and even radical

Intimate, all-too-relatable magic. Hauser writes like she's whispering hard-earned secrets to a friend, picking apart how she has been held hostage to her own fantasies about love and happiness in warm and vulnerable scenes. . . What a gift it is, to have the curtains lift and let us all in

As Hauser grapples with the changing shape of her life story, it's fitting that the shape of each essay and, indeed, the shape of the collection itself, are self-consciously experimental in form. . . Reading The Crane Wife is a bit like following Hauser into the Mirror Maze, her voice as narrator guiding the way through and out. Whether writing about familial or cultural stories, each text becomes a mirror in which Hauser sees herself reflected back. And in her willingness to turn inward, to truly face herself, Hauser's essays open outward, becoming themselves mirrors into which readers might gaze

I absolutely LOVED these essays. I knew I ought to ration myself to one a day in order to prolong the joy and fascination of them, but I just couldn't: I had to carry on reading and reading, like eating a whole packet of jelly babies in one sitting. What a fantastic, original, funny and touching voice! C J Hauser is a wondrous writer. This book will give so much happiness

Compassionate and funny and brave. The book is a masterclass in life writing, and a lesson in how to live a life outside the narratives that would contain us. CJ is a master story weaver. I was left wanting more, in the best way possible

In The Crane Wife, Hauser undertakes a new way for her to tell stories from her life, playing with history and personal history, exploring the possible hidden truths in her family's past and her own. The result is like interconnected short stories but about her life, the person she is and was, maybe even the person she never knew herself to be. Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary.

The Crane Wife more than delivers on the immense promise of the viral essay that served as its source. My goodness is it funny, but also so devastatingly honest and bracing. Reading it is like taking a long road trip with your wisest, sharpest friend and talking the entire way.

The Crane Wife is brilliant and beautiful - the vulnerability of her viral essay is expanded to include immense humour, pondering and further misadventures of the heart. An absolute must-read. I will be gifting this book all year long

In this perceptive and probing work, Hauser brilliantly parses the myths that shaped her understanding of love. . . Sparkling. . . A thrillingly original deconstruction of desire and its many configurations

Hauser is a delightful and agile writer, capable of speaking in multiple registers, but what all of her essays have in common is honesty, wisdom, a certain loopiness-she's an old soul with a fresh perspective and an energetic, wandering mind. The result is an imaginative and beautiful memoir, one that'll be passed through the secret sisterhood of crane wives for years.

Readers looking for something a little different in a memoir will not be disappointed. The strongest essays exemplify Hauser's keen awareness about life so far: things don't always work out as planned, love is complicated, and trusting your gut is, sometimes, the best option.

Perceptive and witty

Intimate, witty and beautifully crafted

"I am a kind of breakup pro," Hauser writes late in this lively, thoughtful, and often funny set of personal essays-at a point when the reader has learned much about how unlucky in love she's been. . . Hauser makes a welcome effort to talk about both love and culture in unconventional ways. . . A smart, inviting, and candid clutch of self-assessments

A staccato, funny, barbed, metaphor-laced, and thought-provoking memoir-in-essays. . . No matter her focus, Hauser's deductions about human nature are always arresting, delving, fresh, and exhilarating

While it's always difficult to summarize an essay collection, what holds The Crane Wife together is Hauser's unpacking of emotional truths: who do we love, and why, and what happens when they're gone? When we're alone? When we forget what it was like to love them?