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Custody

"Seven stories detailing child custody cases across nearly two hundred years, proves how desperately tragic these cases can be in this powerful, thought-provoking, and moving book."

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LoveReading Says

LoveReading Says

Gosh, Custody is such a powerful read, personal and intimate, yet far-reaching and all-encompassing, it welcomes all as seven custody cases over nearly two hundred years are  told as stories, reviewed and analysed. The often absurd and tragic nature of the legal system within custody cases is an incredibly difficult subject to negotiate.

Author Lara Feigel acknowledges how traumatising it can be for all, and as she says, there are no winners. She has obviously completed a huge amount of research, and while focusing on seven particular women across time, it is clear that far more of these stories have become a part of her, particularly when stepping into modern cases.

The women here, have been found wanting, and treated with disdain, control, and punishment. The children in these utterly heartbreaking stories are so often unheard, isolated and in effect punished themselves. Feminism and motherhood are examined, the devastating effects of parental alienation, unaccountable judges, and complex systems are investigated.

This makes for incredibly emotional reading, it is explicit, yet thoughtful and balanced, and so joins our LoveReading Star Books and also sits as a Liz Pick of the Month. As historical and modern child custody cases merge into an explicit warning, Custody proves itself an immensely important and powerful book.

Liz Robinson
Reviewed by Liz Robinson
Liz has been an Editorial Expert writing reviews for LoveReading since 2014.
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About Custody

Custody is the first book for general readers on the history of child custody, an issue that affects so many lives and a question that seems fundamental to our experience and understanding of family.It is also an issue that has played a central, at times troubling role in the history of feminism. Lara Feigel's book probes the relationship between emancipation and care via a range of fascinating (and also heartbreaking, surprising and enraging) custody cases 1800 to the present in England, France and America.This book is the story of seven women - Caroline Norton, George Sand, Elizabeth Packard, Frieda Lawrence, Edna O'Brien, Alice Walker, Britney Spears - who have fought for their children and been found wanting.

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