Showing results by author "Jessica Lawrence" in All Categories

An Empty Seat at My Table is a memoir rooted in longing—for a second child, for love, for autonomy—and the often silent sacrifices women make in pursuit of all three. At its heart, this is a story of motherhood earned through relentless determination and deep personal cost. When I left the UK at 35, I believed I was heading toward a bright future: a career in the U.S., a promising relationship, and the possibility of becoming a mother. Instead, I encountered a toxic marriage, an unplanned pregnancy I was coerced into ending, and a long, emotionally brutal struggle with IVF.

There are four groups of cats in this story: a loving family; a vicious gang; a loosely-knit gathering who have made the sewer their home; pampered cat-pets lazing in a rich man's house. And it is the interactions between these cats that make up the tapestry of this book.

Audio journalist Jessica Spain is in Hawaii exploring the Maritime Culture as she sails in a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe.