'Astute, smart, witty and brave. A radical, deeply thoughtful and essential intervention'
Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence

'A deeply valuable reflection on motherhood'
Rowan Williams

For two thousand years, the Virgin Mary has been depicted throughout art, literature and culture as symbolising the perfect mother: chaste, beautiful, meek, mild and white. These supposed virtues and symbols have penetrated not just Christianity but wider popular culture; and contributed to harmful views about motherhood and what it is to be a woman.

In this part-memoir, part social and theological commentary, Chine McDonald deconstructs the myth of perfect motherhood and shines a light on the dark side of parenting. From birth trauma to post-natal depression, from infertility to the mental load, the motherhood penalty and pressures on women to be and have it all - especially in the church - this book attempts to liberate motherhood from the chains in which it has been placed, reconstructing a more authentic, grace-filled way forward for the most important job in the world.

Unmaking Mary will include a foreword written by Beth Allison Barr, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood.

"This is a brave and beautiful book. Writing with a generous ecumenism, Chine McDonald offers a rich revisioning of Mary's motherhood, interweaving the theological tradition with a deeply personal and honest account of her own experiences of maternal life in all its complexity, struggle, vulnerability and joy. As a feminist theologian, mother and grandmother, I felt inspired and liberated by reading this." - Tina Beattie - theologian, writer and broadcaster

"I was utterly riveted by Unmaking Mary. Beautifully written, richly layered and meticulously researched, this is a game-changing, much-needed corrective to the restrictive ideal of motherhood presented in the white, patriarchal myth of Mary. Chine McDonald deconstructs the perfect, passive motherhood Mary has long been saddled with, and clears the way for a maternal figure of profound humanity, power and beauty, as well as unspeakable pain. Astute, smart, witty and brave. A radical, deeply thoughtful and essential intervention." - Lucy Jones - author of Matrescence

"With an honesty as painful as it is rare, Unmaking Mary is a book that will remain with you long after its close. A rigorous examination of motherhood and the ways our icons form us; and a site of truth-telling for those who have, for too long, mirrored postures never meant for us. My only fear is that the foolish among us will mistake it as a book only of interest to women. It is vital reading for all who were once born." - Cole Arthur Riley - author of This Here Flesh