Cry When the Baby Cries

A glorious antidote to parenting books, this darkly humorous, candid and insightful graphic memoir brings the early years of parenthood to life – in all their chaos, wonder and delirium.

Intimate, relatable and very funny, Becky Barnicoat explores everything from the anatomy of the hospital bag to the frantic obsession with putting your baby down drowsy but awake, to the tyranny of gentle parenting. From pregnancy to the feral toddler years, Barnicoat extends a sticky hand to all new parents grappling with the impossible but joyous jigsaw puzzle of their lives.

Barnicoat gives us permission to cry when the baby cries – and also laugh, snort, lie on the floor naked, drool and generally revel in a deeply strange new world ruled by a tyrannical tiny leader, growing bigger and more loved by the day.

Review

The most accurate account of becoming a parent I have ever read. It's fabulous. -- Philippa Perry, author of THE BOOK YOU WISH YOUR PARENTS HAD READ

This book is a perfect testament to the wild ride of early parenting. It's tender, moving, beautifully drawn and also, extremely hilarious. Parents everywhere: you will feel very very seen. -- Isabel Greenberg, author of THE ONE HUNDRED NIGHTS OF HERO

The most hilarious, wonderful, poignant, powerful, insightful and relatable book on the wild world of early parenting I have ever read. Barnicoat's fantastic illustrations and wry humour come together to create something brilliant that I will be recommending to everyone. It made me laugh, weep, cheer and howl. It is essential reading for parents and their peers. -- Nell Frizzell, author of THE PANIC YEARS

I couldn't love this book more. So clever, so funny, so astute, so healing. Becky Barnicoat is a stone cold genius. I will put this book in the hands of every new mother I know. -- Lucy Jones, author of MATRESCENCE: ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH AND MOTHERHOOD

Cry When The Baby Cries takes as its subject the weeks before and after a newborn arrives, capturing something unexpected or beautiful or appalling or grimly funny about the process on every page. Becky Barnicoat has a great eye and ear for the contradictions, absurdities, and compromises that new parents face. A rare book, never cliched, perfectly honest. -- Tom Lamont, author of GOING HOME

A marvel. A moving, honest memoir; a hilarious comedy routine; a parenting guide which tells you all the stuff the rest somehow seem to leave out. Above all, it is the most extraordinary masterclass in cartooning. If you know a new parent, believe me: they need this book as urgently as they need a home-made lasagne. -- Stephen Collins, author of THE GIGANTIC BEARD THAT WAS EVIL

Becky’s cartoons about parenting make me cry and laugh, often simultaneously. Never self-pitying or twee, as so much writing about parenting can be. Just totally honest and wise and true. -- Hadley Freeman, author of HOUSE OF GLASS

Wow! This book is stellar - brave, brutal and laugh-out-loud hilarious, yet ultimately sincere and tender. A total winner! -- Joff Winterhart, author of DRIVING SHORT DISTANCES

Painfully raw, lovingly hilarious, and deeply empathetic. I wish I'd had this book in those first brutal, beautiful weeks of motherhood -- Kirsty Logan, author of THE UNFAMILIAR: A QUEER MOTHERHOOD MEMOIR

Loving, honest, and SO funny, Becky Barnicoat depicts the long nights and short years of baby-raising with warmth and brilliance. Cry When the Baby Cries is the perfect gift for parents overwhelmed by cluster feeding, cabin fever, and the exhausting, exhilarating 'it' of 'having it all'. -- Ada Calhoun, author of WHY WE CAN'T SLEEP

Laugh-out-loud funny, heart shatteringly tender and remarkably well observed. The most essential parenting book you’ll ever own -- Harriet Gibsone, author of IS THIS OK?

About the Author

Becky Barnicoat is a cartoonist and writer. She has drawn for the New Yorker, the Guardian, Buzzfeed and Grazia, and has a weekly cartoon strip in the New Statesman. Along with her debut book, Cry When the Baby Cries, she has also illustrated Holding the Baby by Nell Frizzell and 101 Tiny Changes to Brighten Your World by Ailbhe Malone. She lives with her family by the sea. Find out more at BeckyBarnicoat.com, and see her work on Instagram: @beckybarnicomics.