What do you think?
Rate this book
Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body
A hidden history of the female body - birthing, caring, working and desiring - with radical implications for how we understand our bodies today
Sex and abortion, pregnancy and birth, feeding and rocking and these are embodied practices with a deep past. Yet the history of the female body remains largely unknown – even unimagined.
Combining memoir with archival research, from fragments in medical texts, trial transcripts, legal treatises, prayerbooks, letters, and diaries, Erin Maglaque assembles a chorus of women’s voices from the pre-modern past. We encounter a vanished past both strikingly recognisable and strange, when ideas of the female body, sexuality, work and pleasure were more varied, more unruly, and sometimes freer.
This is the invisible history of the female body – wanting, bleeding, spinning, dying. Reaching deeper into the shared history of women’s lives, Presence points towards a radical new way of understanding our bodies today.
Sex and abortion, pregnancy and birth, feeding and rocking and these are embodied practices with a deep past. Yet the history of the female body remains largely unknown – even unimagined.
Combining memoir with archival research, from fragments in medical texts, trial transcripts, legal treatises, prayerbooks, letters, and diaries, Erin Maglaque assembles a chorus of women’s voices from the pre-modern past. We encounter a vanished past both strikingly recognisable and strange, when ideas of the female body, sexuality, work and pleasure were more varied, more unruly, and sometimes freer.
This is the invisible history of the female body – wanting, bleeding, spinning, dying. Reaching deeper into the shared history of women’s lives, Presence points towards a radical new way of understanding our bodies today.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Did Not Finish
January 12, 2026I was very excited about this book and I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for an ARC. Unfortunately, I've been trying to read it since November and haven't even made it to the halfway mark. I tried again today and I felt like I was just ready to let it go.
While the subject matter interests me, I'm stuck on the chapters about pregnancy and can't seem to get past them. I also thought that some of the sections read like infodumping a long collection of historical facts, and the dialogue with the author's biography didn't feel smooth. Nonetheless, clearly a lot of research went into this and it's well-written, so I'm sure it's a good book for anyone interested in this topic.
While the subject matter interests me, I'm stuck on the chapters about pregnancy and can't seem to get past them. I also thought that some of the sections read like infodumping a long collection of historical facts, and the dialogue with the author's biography didn't feel smooth. Nonetheless, clearly a lot of research went into this and it's well-written, so I'm sure it's a good book for anyone interested in this topic.
June 15, 2026
Despite this being nonfiction, it was almost like a mystical read, making me feel connected to all women, past and present. The last time I felt like a book forced me to sit with my body and my relationship with it was when I read the Vagina Monologues when I was 18. I enjoyed it very much and despite it not being quite a 5 star read for me I plan on buying a copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Presence details the history of the female body by discussing topics of eating, pregnancy, abortion, birth, sleep, breastfeeding, desire, drudgery and dying. This book dives into historical facts around these topics but also discusses the authors personal experiences. People in the past especially men believed strange things about women regarding their bodies and this is a fascinating look at how certain beliefs have changed.
I enjoyed reading this and I had a good time learning the historical beliefs about women’s bodies. This is written well and even when I wasn’t the most interested in a topic I still found this compelling. I liked learning about the historical beliefs regarding pregnancy specifically what made a fetus human and the changing beliefs on fat/thin bodies. I think this book also shows how connections can be made to anything and at the time it will make sense. For example, in the past some people believed conditions a wet nurse had would be transferred to the child and at the time that easily made sense to people. I will be recommending this and I really appreciate what this author had to say on their experience of being a woman.
Favourite quote:
“A fetus, quick, ensouled, formed, was still only held to be human, by the law; it took being born to become human.”
Presence details the history of the female body by discussing topics of eating, pregnancy, abortion, birth, sleep, breastfeeding, desire, drudgery and dying. This book dives into historical facts around these topics but also discusses the authors personal experiences. People in the past especially men believed strange things about women regarding their bodies and this is a fascinating look at how certain beliefs have changed.
I enjoyed reading this and I had a good time learning the historical beliefs about women’s bodies. This is written well and even when I wasn’t the most interested in a topic I still found this compelling. I liked learning about the historical beliefs regarding pregnancy specifically what made a fetus human and the changing beliefs on fat/thin bodies. I think this book also shows how connections can be made to anything and at the time it will make sense. For example, in the past some people believed conditions a wet nurse had would be transferred to the child and at the time that easily made sense to people. I will be recommending this and I really appreciate what this author had to say on their experience of being a woman.
Favourite quote:
“A fetus, quick, ensouled, formed, was still only held to be human, by the law; it took being born to become human.”
July 5, 2026
I’m not a woman, so you may add whatever biases or misconceptions or ignorance to my opinion that you may like. In sum, my opinion is that more historical record (and footnotes/endnotes) and less autobiography would have made this a more compelling or interesting read. One hundred pages into reading and I realized I was dreading the sentences with pronouns — and the book is loaded with them. And if you’re reading this review, you are probably already tired of the I’s and my’s already populating this paragraph. It’s like that.
The “yada, yada”, meh, or “woe is you” or “what makes your life experience so important for me to know about?” percolates up through each chapter like a dark roast of coffee, darkening the clear enjoyment of learning about the history of the female experience, until its acid, bitter and unenjoyable. Some connection to the personal lived experience would have been great, but oh, how self-absorbed the book seems to me. I was reminded of reading Susan Sontag or Joan Didion, but not in the good essayist way.
Further evidence that this is foremost an autobiography, not a history (no matter how ‘hidden’ the book’s subtitle suggests) is the lack of sourcing or elaboration through footnotes or endnotes or even captions for untitled images scattered throughout the book. The author’s purpose seems not to educate or illuminate. This is personal, it seems mostly about coming to terms with a person’s physically, sensually lived experience. We’re told it’s about the awakening to the singularity of the human being not the mind-body duality but that makes it too cerebral again. It’s more a book about the author. Even the Kirkus Review said as much but more politely. I think the phrase might have been something like ‘perhaps too personal’.
I noted that understatement despite the Kirkus star before reserving the book from our public library because I wanted it to be a good source of understanding of the history of society’s treatment of the subject of the female body (in the western experience, at least). It’s light on providing a solid grounding of that history. Instead we’re given a smattering that seems at times disjointed or drawing repeatedly from the same examples.
All that said, as the author says in the preface by the use of the word “we” in referring to her readers, this is not a book intended to be relatable or understanding by all of us. It is intended for women; but not even all women. Just as incomplete or lacking a compelling connectibility as an autobiography of an astronaut trying to convey their lived experience of seeing the earth from space, this book will resonate with a certain reader and likely only them. I’d encourage potential readers to go through the reviews here, particularly those that may come later than the initial raves. Obviously, the book is resonating with some readers and I am glad they found value and connection in the reading.
I’m not sorry for reading this book; I just wish I’d come away from it with a better understanding of “the” female experience rather than “a” female’s experience. I hope other readers find and take more from book than I did.
The “yada, yada”, meh, or “woe is you” or “what makes your life experience so important for me to know about?” percolates up through each chapter like a dark roast of coffee, darkening the clear enjoyment of learning about the history of the female experience, until its acid, bitter and unenjoyable. Some connection to the personal lived experience would have been great, but oh, how self-absorbed the book seems to me. I was reminded of reading Susan Sontag or Joan Didion, but not in the good essayist way.
Further evidence that this is foremost an autobiography, not a history (no matter how ‘hidden’ the book’s subtitle suggests) is the lack of sourcing or elaboration through footnotes or endnotes or even captions for untitled images scattered throughout the book. The author’s purpose seems not to educate or illuminate. This is personal, it seems mostly about coming to terms with a person’s physically, sensually lived experience. We’re told it’s about the awakening to the singularity of the human being not the mind-body duality but that makes it too cerebral again. It’s more a book about the author. Even the Kirkus Review said as much but more politely. I think the phrase might have been something like ‘perhaps too personal’.
I noted that understatement despite the Kirkus star before reserving the book from our public library because I wanted it to be a good source of understanding of the history of society’s treatment of the subject of the female body (in the western experience, at least). It’s light on providing a solid grounding of that history. Instead we’re given a smattering that seems at times disjointed or drawing repeatedly from the same examples.
All that said, as the author says in the preface by the use of the word “we” in referring to her readers, this is not a book intended to be relatable or understanding by all of us. It is intended for women; but not even all women. Just as incomplete or lacking a compelling connectibility as an autobiography of an astronaut trying to convey their lived experience of seeing the earth from space, this book will resonate with a certain reader and likely only them. I’d encourage potential readers to go through the reviews here, particularly those that may come later than the initial raves. Obviously, the book is resonating with some readers and I am glad they found value and connection in the reading.
I’m not sorry for reading this book; I just wish I’d come away from it with a better understanding of “the” female experience rather than “a” female’s experience. I hope other readers find and take more from book than I did.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I am always attracted to books that look at topics I wouldn’t normally read about so when this ARC popped up, I was immediately intrigued (my thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House). It turned out to be an exceptional read.
The author, in her debut book, is on the faculty at the University of Sheffield, England, and offers a fascinating study of women using her own body “as the template.” Drawing on historical, artistic, midwifery journals, legal, scientific and “household guide” sources, we get a bird’s eye view of women’s experiences and self imagineds between 1500 to 1800. This was a period of “profound change” for women and during which men also took over things like births, normally handled by midwives. Another example , in the 16th C it was thought a woman needed to experience organism to conceive by the 18th C it was argued organism didn’t exist.
The book examines birth, abortion, miscarriage, breast feeding, house work and care for the dying. As on French memoirist, Madame de Roland, wrote in the 18th C, about breastfeeding: “In truth, looking at the matter closely, nursing a baby is a course in morals, and I think some women do well not to try it.” Also before the 18th C, sex was non-penetrative, by the end it was penetrative. We get our sexual proclivities from this century. Loved Chapter 8 entitled “A History of Durdgery.” This chapter actually explores women working on textiles and how to keep white linen clean.
There are wonderful paintings and illustrations in the book showing women in various poses and ways of life. This added nicely to historical tale being offered in this book. Highly recommend.
The author, in her debut book, is on the faculty at the University of Sheffield, England, and offers a fascinating study of women using her own body “as the template.” Drawing on historical, artistic, midwifery journals, legal, scientific and “household guide” sources, we get a bird’s eye view of women’s experiences and self imagineds between 1500 to 1800. This was a period of “profound change” for women and during which men also took over things like births, normally handled by midwives. Another example , in the 16th C it was thought a woman needed to experience organism to conceive by the 18th C it was argued organism didn’t exist.
The book examines birth, abortion, miscarriage, breast feeding, house work and care for the dying. As on French memoirist, Madame de Roland, wrote in the 18th C, about breastfeeding: “In truth, looking at the matter closely, nursing a baby is a course in morals, and I think some women do well not to try it.” Also before the 18th C, sex was non-penetrative, by the end it was penetrative. We get our sexual proclivities from this century. Loved Chapter 8 entitled “A History of Durdgery.” This chapter actually explores women working on textiles and how to keep white linen clean.
There are wonderful paintings and illustrations in the book showing women in various poses and ways of life. This added nicely to historical tale being offered in this book. Highly recommend.
November 21, 2025
Starting this review with a quote from this book:
“There was a fundamental distrust of what happened inside the female body; external evidence not required.
Oh how this still rings true, even 500 years later.
There was so much history built into this book from the 1400s to present day. I appreciated the mix of personal anecdotes and historical evidence, but I felt the pacing of the book would’ve benefited from more depth on the personal side. At times it felt like we were jumping from historical quote to historical quote with no context as to why; a way of dumping a ton of data into one chapter.
Chapter 3 was the most intriguing, as Maglaque delves into the history of “unpregnancy” and how people assume society was always against it. That wasn’t always the case, even in the Catholic church who became much more strict on the subject in the late 1500s.
The chapters on sleep and desire were two of my favorites; they were fascinating and relatable and although these are biological forces, the way we approach them has changed so much throughout history.
The epilogue perfectly wrapped the book up, and brought the reason for the research full circle. It was about the risk of being present, the risk of searching for more, the risk of being curious. The word ‘presence’ permeated through the book and it not only referenced the presence of others throughout a woman’s history, but the presence of oneself while experiencing these phenomena.
Thank you to Astra House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!!
“There was a fundamental distrust of what happened inside the female body; external evidence not required.
Oh how this still rings true, even 500 years later.
There was so much history built into this book from the 1400s to present day. I appreciated the mix of personal anecdotes and historical evidence, but I felt the pacing of the book would’ve benefited from more depth on the personal side. At times it felt like we were jumping from historical quote to historical quote with no context as to why; a way of dumping a ton of data into one chapter.
Chapter 3 was the most intriguing, as Maglaque delves into the history of “unpregnancy” and how people assume society was always against it. That wasn’t always the case, even in the Catholic church who became much more strict on the subject in the late 1500s.
The chapters on sleep and desire were two of my favorites; they were fascinating and relatable and although these are biological forces, the way we approach them has changed so much throughout history.
The epilogue perfectly wrapped the book up, and brought the reason for the research full circle. It was about the risk of being present, the risk of searching for more, the risk of being curious. The word ‘presence’ permeated through the book and it not only referenced the presence of others throughout a woman’s history, but the presence of oneself while experiencing these phenomena.
Thank you to Astra House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!!
June 29, 2026
Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body by Erin Maglaque is a thoughtful and deeply engaging exploration of women’s bodies, experiences, knowledge, and the ways history has shaped our understanding of femininity and embodiment.
What stands out is the book’s unique approach of blending personal reflection with historical inquiry. By connecting lived experiences with the premodern past, Maglaque invites readers to reconsider familiar ideas about the body, care, desire, and the roles women have played throughout history.
The book offers a rich and insightful perspective for readers interested in women’s history, feminism, cultural studies, and the relationship between the body and identity. Its thoughtful examination of topics often overlooked creates a powerful and meaningful conversation about how we understand human experience.
A compelling read for anyone interested in history, gender, embodiment, and the evolving stories of women’s lives.
What stands out is the book’s unique approach of blending personal reflection with historical inquiry. By connecting lived experiences with the premodern past, Maglaque invites readers to reconsider familiar ideas about the body, care, desire, and the roles women have played throughout history.
The book offers a rich and insightful perspective for readers interested in women’s history, feminism, cultural studies, and the relationship between the body and identity. Its thoughtful examination of topics often overlooked creates a powerful and meaningful conversation about how we understand human experience.
A compelling read for anyone interested in history, gender, embodiment, and the evolving stories of women’s lives.
May 21, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.
Non fiction is definitely not my bread and butter but women’s history definitely is.
While at times the info-dump was really strong the author did a lot of research that made me want to look further into each source she credited to become more learned.
I would recommend this as a book to have and pick up and put down rather then read all the way through because of the sheer amount of references that don’t always follow a nice “story” line
Non fiction is definitely not my bread and butter but women’s history definitely is.
While at times the info-dump was really strong the author did a lot of research that made me want to look further into each source she credited to become more learned.
I would recommend this as a book to have and pick up and put down rather then read all the way through because of the sheer amount of references that don’t always follow a nice “story” line
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Very interesting history of women’s bodies presented in an accessible way. This is an important addition to feminist non-fiction. The author seamlessly weaves in her own experiences with her body. It is dense with history, so don’t try to read it all in one sitting. It is totally worth the read!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Want to Read
June 26, 2026namara: I’ve been savoring Erin Maglaque’s book “Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body,” which came out this week. She’s a really good historian, and a terrific stylist who writes with vivid, pointillistic detail about breast-feeding, infant care, sleeping, sex and pregnancy, birth—all that stuff that doesn’t usually make it into the historical record
May 23, 2026
Well written book for a targeted audience of women. It is written by a historian, a good one, but it is challenging for a male readers.
June 21, 2026
Interesting. Some topics were approached a bit awkwardly.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews