‘Isolation, self-doubt, panic – maternity leave is a domestic noir in itself’

I never meant to write a book during my maternity leave – now I’ve managed to push out two, one alongside each of my babies.

I’m aware of just how irritating that sentence is, because I too was one of the eye-rollers, the just-relax-and-eat-cakers, the you’ll-have-enough-on-your-platers – and still very much am, actually. But, for me, writing became an essential way of holding onto a part of myself during the months of glorious, love-addled personality-flaying that caring for tiny babies requires.