Born for You

by Magdalena McGuire

Filled with humour and heart, Born for You charts the lives of women as they transition from self to mother, from child to adult, from certainty to uncertainty.
 
In twelve distinct but spiritually interwoven stories, we meet women at the crossroads of change. A woman’s desire to nurture takes a surprising twist. A new mother learns about love in a pandemic. A visit to the tropics sparks questions of inheritance and legacy.
 
These stories take the pulse of women’s inner lives, exploring the pressure points that reveal our best and worst selves and the moments of reckoning that shape a future. Born for You how do we love and care for another person when our world has tilted on its axis?
 
Magdalena McGuire’s stunning first collection is an insightful and hopeful exploration of family life and desire.

Genres: Short Stories

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 5, 2023

About the author

Magdalena McGuire was born in Poland, grew up in Darwin, and now lives in Melbourne with her husband and son. Her short fiction has been published by The Big Issue, Margaret River Press, The Bristol Prize anthology and elsewhere. In 2016 she won the Impress Prize for New Writers. In 2017 she won Mslexia's Short Fiction Competition, judged by Deborah Levy. Home Is Nearby is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of realistic short stories predominantly about different types of mothers and forms of motherhood. McGuire delivers immersive tales with brilliant twists that, in some instances, completely changed my perspective on the experiences of others. In particular, Born for You, for which the collection is titled, was an absolute gem reckoning with sustainable parenthood and the desire to have a lasting impact after death in a time of climate crisis.

While I loved some of these stories, others failed to deliver the same impact. In particular, Pause, Remember? felt like a weak selection for an opening story. This was a shame because the second story in the collection, Principles of Chemistry, was brilliant and I would have loved my first introduction to McGuire's writing to have swept me off my feet. This collection also features a few stories with Covid-19 at the forefront which I personally do not enjoy reading about. I will add that one of the stories felt a little out of place to me as it did not seem to fit the overall theme of mothering as neatly as the others.

McGuire's book prompts interesting questions about what motherhood looks like for different people across time, place, and context. I am not a mother myself, so perhaps may not be able to relate to this collection in the same way as others, but still enjoyed the themes McGuire explores in this debut collection.

[Fran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readable, but, in my opinion, inconsequential: one of these books that you don't love, don't hate and you soon forget.

[Siobhan Mackay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short stories that are all so completely unique but as a mama and as a woman, something in each of them made me smile with recognition or hurt in solidarity (and enjoyed the little Darwin moments, as a fellow Territorian!)

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of stunning short stories by Magdalena McGuire is transporting. Each explores a facet of the act of mothering - bravely, with all of the complicated emotions involved. McGuire shifts across time and place, exploring how larger events in the world - the Iraq war, WWII and of course the pandemic - impact on the domestic. The women in her stories are complicated, with competing demands (and for many that includes the creative arts), but even in her shortest pieces they seem to learn and change. There is a single mother struggling to do it alone, a woman who lost her newborn, a woman with a phantom pregnancy, and a woman who bonds to a plastic doll-baby. There are parents of young children, teens, parents of grown children, and the grandmothers rule the day - saying and doing exactly as they please.

The authorial voice is beautiful - in full command of her prose. Often it is pared back to only the most essential elements to tell her story, but burning with complex emotion and taking us in surprising directions (reminding me often of Elizabeth Strout). I had to read these stories in snatches because they required a long period of unpacking them, sometimes keeping me awake at night. All the stories are self contained, and yet I would love to see a novel based on some of these stories, particularly Principles of Chemistry (set in a post-WWII Poland/Germany) and We, the Adults (the competing desires of an actor/mother). The opening and closing stories are told in the first person by the same mother who feels the pressure of looking after a baby and a toddler during the time of the COVID lockdowns with hilarious results. Is it trite to say these stories will make you laugh and cry? All the feels are definitely here. I also loved McGuire's first publication, the novel Home is Nearby, and I am excited to see what she brings us next.

[Lizzy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

(disclosure: happily, I know the author)

I loved this in that fairly rare way where I didn't want it to end, and when it did, felt a desperation for more. That said, the pieces and their collection as a book are perfectly put together and never felt too long or too short. Immaculately written and consistently moving. More than once I felt lucky to be reading something that resonated with my own experience in ways I was thirsty for.

[Ruth Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magdalena McGuire's beautifully written collection of short stories, Born For You, explores the many ways motherhood shapes us all By turns touching, funny and surreal, McGuire takes us on a journey through disparate landscapes and experiences, using sensitive observations and effortless lyricism to reveal the profundity of ordinary moments. A wonderful collection by a very talented writer.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st book of 2024. A wonderful short story collection exploring women, predominantly mothers. The way McGuire explores love, struggle, and yearning through women who are mothers, or wish to be mothers tugged on my heart strings a little. I enjoyed all the stories and particularly liked the revisiting of the family from the first story into the last. The cover art is lovely too.

3.5⭐️ from me.

[Grace Collison · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is probably on me as i should have guessed from the title (i picked up a free copy from work), but all the short stories are about motherhood and babies. as a decidedly non-maternal person, it was not my cup of tea lol. having said that, i found that ‘born for you’ (the short story) was the most thought-provoking.

[Melanie Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Emilie Patteson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving and surprising. I will revisit these stories again.