How the Female Body Works:

by Polly Vernon

"The book I didn't know I desperately needed." - LORRAINE KELLY

"Witty and wise - How the Female Body Works is a wonderful blend of science and humour. I laughed, I learned, and I felt seen. A must-read for anyone in a female body - and anyone who knows one." - Dr Charlotte Gribbin, Consultant Aesthetic & Regenerative Medicine Physician

'Technically, we're close, my body and I. We go everywhere together. And yet, I know little about how it actually works...'


How much do any of us really know about our bodies? We know, for example, that women live longer than men, but why? We are told our brains are better at multi-tasking, but is that true? What exactly are hormones? what do they look like? What's the point of PMS? Why are women twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer's? And what's the deal with things like osteoporosis - why are our bones so damn fragile?


For years, award-winning journalist Polly Vernon drove her body around like it was a car - and she had zero interest in the manual. This book charts her mission to lift the bonnet, have a good old rummage and find out what's really going on. She talks to neuroscientists, academics, medics, midwives, gynaes, psychologists and physios. People who really know their stuff.


And so here it is, THE complete guide to the female body - head to toe, inside and out, physical and emotional - with reassuring advice on how to mitigate the ways it makes life trickier, along with notes of celebration for the ways it helps us out.


Full of facts and stories that will blow your mind, this is a book you'll want to pass on to every woman (and man) you know.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 26, 2025

Reviews

[Shelley Portet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written with such empathy and clarity that it actually made me feel emotional. I learned things reading this book that helped me understand my body better and gave me greater acceptance - particularly when it comes to energy levels and hormone balance. The index at the back makes it easy to dip in and out, finding the sections that are most relevant to you. I’m sure I’ll be returning to it as I move through different stages.

A brilliant book to buy for the women in your life.

[Alanna R-B · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What a wonderful thing the female body is … how beautiful, how glorious, how fragile, how tough.”

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

my mum gave this to me so i went in knowing nothing about it, other than its self explanatory title. overall it’s a very accessible book on the female body, written by a journalist who interviews leading female health practitioners. i liked its overall message that knowing and understanding how our bodies work is empowering. and think its probably a net good to have an empathetic book about women’s bodies written by the ‘every woman’ (whether you do actually find her relatable or not). but i personally did find vernon a bit frustrating at times and it was very obviously written by a journalist rather than a scientist. useful for the *relatability* factor but not great for her credibility. there’s a chapter on childbirth where she just repeats what’s on the NHS website and fills it out with anecdotes from her friends who’ve given birth. i don’t want to rag on vernon too much because she’s not pretending otherwise but surely she could have done a bit more research? it just left a little something to be desired for me and i found myself cringing a lot