Harpy: A Manifesto for Childfree Women

’Harpy is a tonic; a tongue-in-cheek manual for dealing with Spanish Inquisition-style questioning about saying pass to procreation and building an enriching life beyond the nuclear family’ VOGUE

’Harpy made me nod in recognition, and shake my head with sorrow, and then it made me laugh out loud’ EMILIE PINE, author of NOTES TO SELF and RUTH & PEN

’Defiant, funny and inspiring’ SEÁN HEWITT, author of ALL DOWN DARKNESS WIDE

Each generation has more childfree women than the one before. For many, it is an active decision made for a wide range of reasons. Despite this growing trend, we continue to live in a society where women are often judged for deciding to remain childfree - for not conforming to narrow expectations. For being a Harpy.

In this timely and thoughtful book, Caroline Magennis looks beyond the often-divisive conversation around women who choose to be childfree and offers an alternative message of hope and celebration. With humour and intelligence, she explores why motherhood isn’t right for everybody and how any woman - whether a parent or childfree - can live a full life, while also reminding the reader that your freedoms and the right to autonomy should never be taken for granted.

Caroline Magennis is an academic and writer based in Manchester. Her writing has appeared in The Independent, Prospect Magazine and The Irish Times. Her book, Northern Irish Writing After the Troubles, has been named the joint winner of the British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies Monograph Prize 2022.