Larger than an Orange
LUCY BURNS
(CHATTO & WINDUS, 240 PP, £10.99)
Tablet bookshop price £9.89 • tel 020 7799 4064

This is a difficult read. You need to suspend judgement, reach for compassion. But don’t be so overwhelmed by pity that you lose sight of some important things we learn from this diary of a crisis pregnancy where the termination of the pregnancy only deepened the crisis. It has been described as poetry, which I’d dispute; indeed, the rather heavy metaphorical allusions to blood oranges and squashed eggs get in the way of the real story, which is an account of a breakdown.

“Nearly every day I have had thoughts about harming myself or others … nearly every day I have made plans to end my life …” Lucy Burns is in counselling. She got pregnant. She decided to have a medical termination – that’s one which you cope with, largely, on your own. It soon becomes clear to the writer, her readers, the medical professionals she has dealings with, and her small circle of friends, (“we haven’t spoken in a few months … I know you probably don’t want to speak to me but ... I’m having an abortion”) that her mental stability has been seriously compromised.