To the Women

Donna Ashworth writes for women in the thick of it: the daughters, mothers, friends and guides who carry a great deal and are rarely told they are doing enough. Her poems are short, direct and warm, honouring our capacity to love, rage, fear and rebuild, and returning to two steady ideas: we are stronger together, and strength begins with accepting ourselves. Pieces such as Take Up Space and There Will Be Days read like something a good friend might say across the kitchen table.

First self-published in 2020 with 48 poems, the collection returns as a revised hardback with more than 70 new ones, and reached number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list. It belongs on the bedside table, or in the hands of a woman who needs reminding she is not walking alone.