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The author of Drunk Mom continues her “bravely and beautifully told” story of alcohol addiction in this raw, unsparing memoir about shame and relapse (Lena Dunham)
Honest and grimly funny—with actionable advice for readers of addiction memoirs like Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly and Sarah Hepola’s Blackout
It’s been over a decade since Jowita Bydlowska published her lightning rod of a memoir on overcoming alcohol addiction as a young mother. Both hailed and criticized for its no-holds-barred transparency, Drunk Mom was—and continues to be—refreshing and revelatory in its gritty exploration of addiction recovery and relapse in the context of new motherhood.
But what happens after the last page is turned, after the “happy ending” of an addiction the world assumes is safely in the rearview? When Bydlowska relapses after the success of her book, her overwhelming sense is one of shame. She struggles to reconcile the knowledge that she’s helped bring comfort and hope to countless readers with her own frustration and mounting fear that the truth will only let others down.
In prose that’s by turns harsh and beautiful, tender and devastating, she writes about her ensuing spiral into alcoholism—and the climb back up and out. With the same generosity and grim humor that made Drunk Mom a standout, Bydlowska uses her own story as a vehicle to interrogate and challenge the narrative surrounding addiction, exploring the ways in which the conversation has both evolved and stayed the same over the last decade.
Bio
Jowita Bydlowska is the author of Unshaming (March 2026). She is also the author of Monster (September 2024), Possessed, the best-selling memoir Drunk Mom, and the best-selling novel GUY. She's also a prolific short-story writer, journalist and a mentor. Her favourite review on Goodreads is a review of Possessed, which read, "Jesus Christ." Her other favourite review is a one-star review of Monster, "If someone is interested in the sexual adventures of a mentally ill woman, this book is for them."​
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Other Books
“While the title suggests a simple autobiographical autopsy of motherhood marred by alcoholism, Bydlowska’s memoir delivers far more – a human portrait
of the disease.”
The New York Times
Book Review
“Drunk Mom is a rarity in this age of constant overshares—a work that had me questioning, “Does she want us to know this? Should I know this?” as I read it. …At times, it’s also a shockingly amusing read, sprinkled with wry, dark humour. I couldn’t put it down.”
Vice
“Bydlowska, the author of the bestselling books Drunk Mom and Guy, packs her novel with racy scenarios exploring the emotions that surface when sex wheels its inquisitive head; their purpose in less capable hands might simply titillate, but in Possessed they also become evocative of mental crisis and mortifying insecurity. As only a novelist that has come into their own can manage, Bydlowska presents the upheavals in Josephine and Luka’s lives with a great deal of emotional perceptiveness."
The Globe and Mail
Winnipeg Free Press
“Being Guy felt horrifically natural, as if he stepped right out of my own debased, politically incorrect sex fantasy. This book is unputdownable, full of sly, modern details that made me laugh and grimace right into the twist ending.”
-- Miranda July
Miranda July, author of
The First Bad Man
Monster by Jowita Bydlowska is unlikely to find itself at the top of many of these lists, especially among those inclined to clutch their pearls around the coffee table. Yet that doesn’t make the novel any less of a worthwhile, compelling and at times beautifully written story.
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