Some Body to Love: A Family Story Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Alexandra Heminsley (Author, Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)

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Today I sat on a bench facing the sea, the one where I waited for L to be born, and sobbed my heart out. I don't know if I'll ever recover.

This note was written on 9th November 2017. As the seagulls squawked overhead and the sun dipped into the sea, Alexandra Heminsley's world was turning inside out.

She'd just been told her then-husband was going to transition. The revelation threatened to shatter their brand new, still fragile, family.

But this vertiginous moment represented only the latest in a series of events that had left Alex feeling more and more dissociated from her own body, turning her into a seemingly unreliable narrator of her own reality.

Some Body to Love is Alex's profoundly open-hearted memoir about losing her husband but gaining a best friend and together bringing up a baby in a changing world. Its exploration of what it means to have a human body, to feel connected or severed from it and how we might learn to accept our own, makes it a vital and inspiring contribution to some of the most complex and heated conversations of our times.

Listening Length

7 hours and 1 minute
Author

Alexandra Heminsley
Narrator

Alexandra Heminsley
Audible release date

14 January 2021
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
ASIN

B08N1JWML6
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 1 minute
Author	Alexandra Heminsley
Narrator	Alexandra Heminsley
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	14 January 2021
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B08N1JWML6
Best Sellers Rank	84,876 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 99 in LGBTQ+ Studies (Audible Books & Originals) 457 in LGBTQ+ Rights & Expression 1,568 in Parenting & Families

Customer reviews

5 star		67%
4 star		14%
3 star		11%
2 star		6%
1 star		2%

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Top review from Australia

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Maddie Grant

Read with tissues, an open heart and revel in Alex’s words

Reviewed in Australia on 25 February 2021

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I’m so proud of this family.
Having followed Alexandra’s journalist career for years, in magazines and on the radio, her reviews expanded my book list beyond my comfort zone and truly enhanced my life.
The marriage photo of her and D shared on Instagram is sheer joy. The pain in this book; that they both have lived, loved, worked and laughed through is visceral.
It’s probably the clearest account of the bewilderment you feel when your foundations fall down I’ve ever read.
However, that they’ve been able to find their way back to joy is a testament of their love and that L is helping them navigate language is nothing short of glorious.
I’ve wept, grinned and startled my husband as I whooped for joy reading Some Body To Love. Not just about the shifting sands in a relationship, but also a critique on how female and women’s bodies are mishandled, misread, mistreated, often abused. I going to order books for my friends, shout this from the rooftops.

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Top reviews from other countries

Mrs A S Percival

Honest, compassionate, thoughtful memoir

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2021

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An honest and raw account of one woman's experience that still resonates on a universal level. The author describes the gruelling rounds of IVF, the final throw of the dice with one last embryo that results in a pregnancy. But a phone call that says the baby shares no DNA with her throws everything into chaos. She reassesses her relationship with her body, with her identity. She comes through a series of traumatic events (a sexual assault on a train when she is heavily pregnant being one) and when she thinks she finally has her happy family of three, her partner tells her he has to transition. The repercussions are far reaching and she doesn't shy away from examining what it will mean for her, her family unit, her child, and her marriage. Above all, it is a tale told with kindness and compassion, clear-eyed, and full of love.

2 people found this helpful

Naomi

Some Body to Love - Heminsley is talking to us all.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 January 2021

Verified Purchase

Having pre ordered Some Body to Love, by Alexandra Heminsley, I was quick to start reading it when my copy came through.
I was expecting a memoir of sorts, but what I got was a memoir with bells on! There was the IVF story, then the trauma of thinking that this might not be her egg, the sexual assault, the husband transitioning, but it was all held together with a remarkable understanding that bodies, whoever they belong to, are just 'being'. If I can explain that a little better, I will try - but I say to those who want to understand, just read this book.
The scales lifting from Heminsley's eyes and the burden lifting from her heart when she understood that she wasn't to blame for the lack of attention from her husband D, which began soon after their son was born, is reflected as she took us back to her own body's way of being, as it developed. I loved the way her reminiscing helped the reader understand her emotions and how it also helped see why she is understanding of D's decision - which really isn't a decision, its just D being able to be D and live the way she wants to live.
The clever title, which one might assume applies to her son, incorporates all her loved ones - including herself. ie it is not about her son, the possible 'cuckoo's' egg, her best friend D, or herself, but all of these; they all have a story within the book. The one that comes through most prominently though is her own eventual love and understanding for her body... and she allows the reader to grasp an understanding of their own self, and the emotions that go with it, whether they are fighting against a sexual assault , a massive change in a relationship, parenthood, weight gain, or just coming to terms with just 'being'.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in their fellow human - or for that matter anyone who is only interested in themselves! It should make the latter open their eyes to what some people are going through - and the former will be swept away by Heminsley's caring, honest and open nature. Just read it.

2 people found this helpful

tappy

Not what i thought

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2021

Verified Purchase

Sadly,this book did not do what I thought it was going to do (maybe i read a poor recommendation) which was to throw light onto the transition of her now ex 'partner' For that reason I found the writing selfish and having justtvl read all the positive reviews here cannot find anything positive to say about it at all. Clearly I was expecting something completely different. I was hoping for open compassion and illustration of transition.

One person found this helpful

Slow Reader

Thoughtful, considered and wise

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2021

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A thoughtful, considered book, extremely respectful of those involved, whilst managing to be raw and honest. Really interesting; plenty to say that made me nod in recognition or think more about my own body or wider gender politics. A very contemporary, hopeful and well-structured memoir.

3 people found this helpful

Kate Phipps

Raw, honest & beautiful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2021

Verified Purchase

The raw honesty in this book is incredibly beautiful. I absolutely loved Alexandra Heminsleys first two books “Running like a girl” and “Leap In”. She has a wonderfully acute way of observing the detail in the world and our emotional landscapes, as authentically flawed human beings. This story is very personal and I think the empathy she shows within it and her generosity in sharing this story is a really beautiful thing. I can not recommend it highly enough.

2 people found this helpful

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Some Body to Love: A Family Story Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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