First published 2024
Aysegül Savaş enters the final weeks of pregnancy captivated by ancient beliefs about the forty days following birth. Her grandmothers speak of extracting these days like an exorcism. A friend shares a book recommending rest, nourishing broths, and protection from wind and cold. Across religions, forty days mark periods of trial and transformation, journeys into wilderness territories both vast and unruly. When her baby arrives, Savaş maps her passage through new motherhood's contradictory landscape. She inhabits a space where chaos meets care, where she mothers while being mothered. The postpartum crossing becomes her trial, leading her and her child through untamed emotional terrain toward an uncertain emergence from the wild.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-journey
Period: Forty Days, Postpartum Period
98 pages · Kindle Edition · Transit Books