‘There is an honesty that is both heart-breaking and more hopeful than anything else I've read on this subject. She makes me weep and wonder in equal measure’ Hollie McNish

Eloquent and uncompromising, Swell explores the triumphs and hardships of the journey to new motherhood – through pregnancy, miscarriage, birth and beyond

In the consultation room I stared
at the purple flowers in their purple
vase and imagined my insides:
an ocean, a cave, a storm.

Maria Ferguson’s second poetry collection is a raw and powerful documentation of one woman’s experience of becoming a mother. Against a backdrop of the sounds and sensations of daily life, Ferguson observes her body changing and charts a course through loss and wilting house plants, towards recovery, empowerment and renewal.

Tender, direct and winningly witty, Swell navigates the complexities of family and domesticity, exploring the contending weight and levity felt in this thrillingly unfamiliar new chapter. Ferguson is a poet as alert to the absurd as to the shattering, and these are large-hearted poems, full of life and thought. Together, they invite the reader to join them in a search for self-acceptance, for freedom from shame, and for a path to stability in increasingly uncertain times.

"Wry wit and honesty combine to make Swell a compelling narrative of marriage, pregnancy and motherhood. The world of mother and baby groups and “hashtag self-care” enables a rich vein of comic material, but it is emotional exposure and fragility... that makes Swell such a rewarding collection" - Guardian

"I urge you to read this beautiful collection... The writing is eloquent and astute across many thoughts... Ferguson's poems offer a radical and contemporary portrayal of an experience as old as time" - Juno Magazine