Television for Women
by Danit Brown
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Pub Date Jun 24 2025 | Archive Date Jul 01 2025
Melville House Publishing | Melville House
Talking about this book? Use #TelevisionforWomen #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
Estie isn’t sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn’t even sure she likes her husband anymore, especially after he hid that he’s been fired from his job. Hello parenthood! Goodbye life as Estie imagined it! Now, she’s stranded and bloated and alone. Her cat is not a people person, and on top of it all, her best friend has been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.
After Estie gives birth, she begins to suspect that all the stories she’s been told about motherhood might not be true. Having a child does not “complete” her. And that mythical connection with her baby? Well, she’s still waiting. In fact, Estie fears she is destined to end up like her own mother—divorced and crying in the bathroom while her daughter stands outside the door and wonders if she’s okay.
Startlingly honest and unsentimental, Television for Women explores the realities of life postpartum, the demands children make on women’s identities and relationships—and the desperate lengths someone might go to in order to reclaim the person she once was.
Advance Praise
Praise from booksellers
“Danit Brown’s Television for Women is a raw, emotionally charged exploration of the complexities of motherhood, particularly the often-unspoken struggles that accompany it. Centered around Estie, a woman grappling with postpartum depression, the novel offers a powerful, unsettling lens into a mother’s internal battles as she navigates the dizzying rollercoaster of emotions that come with raising a child.” – Kyra Tatlow, Book Love in Plymouth, MA
Praise for TELEVISION FOR WOMEN
"I can think of no other novel that depicts the first months of parenthood and its disillusionments so honestly and with so much humor and pathos and clarity. An engrossing, hilarious read." —Rebecca Makkai, author of the New York Times bestseller I Have Some Questions for You
"Danit Brown has managed to write a post-partum page-turner. Television For Women is an intimate examination of female friendship, motherhood, longing and regret, all told with wonderfully dark humor. A brutal and delightful read." —Kiley Reid, author of the New York Times bestseller Such a Fun Age
"Fans of Rachel Cusk and Rachel Yoder, watch out: This knockout of a novel will have you up all night, frantically turning pages. Rarely have I felt so seen by a depiction of early motherhood, of the maternal mental load, of the cataclysmic changes women undergo when an infant enters their lives. I loved it and can't stop thinking or talking about it." —Joanna Rakoff, author of internationally bestselling book, My Salinger Year
"If there is a canon for writing about postpartum depression, I would like to nominate Danit Brown’s Television For Women and then put it on the top of the list. I started to read this crazy thrill ride of a novel before bed and then stayed up until the middle of the night, not stopping until I was done." —Marcy Dermansky, author of Hot Air
"A sheer pleasure of a novel, written with all the gruesome grace and grit of a trusted friend with whom you can be completely, unselfconsciously honest. What a rare and precious thing in life, let alone literature." —Elisa Albert, author of Book of Dahlia
"Television for Women is a book you don’t read so much as devour, so vividly alive on the page that you’re sucked in and held there by forces beyond your control. It’s a maternity thriller: impossible to put down because of the pitch perfect prose, and the feeling you get that someone out there totally understands you, that as bad as everything is, it’s all going to somehow be miraculously okay. Readers are going to be eternally grateful to Danit Brown for finding them just when they needed her most and giving them the perfect thing they didn’t even know they needed." —Thisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781685891831 |
| PRICE | $19.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 272 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Ashling P, Reviewer
I have never read anything that captured the raw, unrelenting reality of early motherhood with such brutal accuracy. Television for Women doesn't flinch at all. It doesn't sugarcoat. It doesn't swerve or dodge, offering the copout or platitude that everything will be okay. It just... sits in the mess of it -- the exhaustion, the resentment, the rumination, the identity crisis, and the quiet terror that this is forever. Danit Brown "goes there" with a level of honesty that almost feels transgressive. It's not the picture of motherhood you find on those IG pages where they pretend to be honest about the difficulty ("you're doing your best mama!"), it's realer and deeper than that.
It's painful, yes. But it's also stunning in its precision. There were moments in this book that cut so deeply that they transported me right back to those early postpartum days -- ones that most of us barely speak about because it's impossible to square them with the joy and love you're supposed to be feeling. Brown tells the truth anyways. And by doing that, she doesn't just write a HELL of a debut, she makes space for those who have lived it. And I just have so much respect for that.
And then, right there at the end, she gives us the most perfect, poignant, and accurate summation of how the fog starts to lift: "Even with the benefit of hindsight, Estie couldn't pinpoint the moment she started feeling better. She'd been miserable to begin with, and then, one day, she wasn't miserable anymore." That is EXACTLY how it happened for me, and I can't believe how simply and accurately she summed up one of the most stunning emotional transformations of my life in two sentences. No grand epiphany, no one coming to save you, no sweeping transformation, just a slow, imperceptible shift until, one day, it isn't so heavy.
I cannot overstate how much respect I have for what Brown has done here. THIS NOVEL WILL NOT BE FOR EVERYONE, but for those who see something of their own experience here, this will hit so different.
Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for the advance copy, and for Danit Brown for writing this.
Samantha K, Educator
Wow - what an emotional read. I agree with what some other reviewers said about this book not being for everyone, but despite being a difficult one, it was so incredibly relatable that it took me right back to my newborn days as I struggled with PPD myself.
The pacing of this felt a little drawn out, but as someone who went through similar struggles as Estie's, I think it's important that more people read and learn how unfortunately common this is for so many women. They say "it takes a village," but the reality is that not all of us are so lucky to have one, especially when we live so far from friends and family and not everyone understands or is even willing to listen. I even found myself getting frustrated with some of Alice's decisions (especially at the end!) before being quickly reminded that we aren't ourselves in times like these and it's so important to know and learn that it's OKAY to ask for help and that we NEED to do so; and we need to support other parents instead of only asking about the kids, too!
But my GOD I couldn't stand her husband. Poor Estie.
4/5 stars. Thanks so much for this ARC!
Cali S, Reviewer
It was an excellent read! I think Brown did an amazing job of showing the harsh realities not only of parenthood but of getting older when you haven’t fully “grown up” yet. Women are often thrown into adulthood and told to get married and have kids as soon as possible but no one tells them how hard it can be when their selfhood isn’t developed yet. Estie’s scramble to cling to something (Alice’s love life, Dan’s food blog, etc) as she descends into a deep depression after Rosie’s birth was raw and jarring. I found myself getting angry on her behalf at the people around her. A husband who won’t do dishes? A mom who prioritizes the movies over meeting her granddaughter? But this is real life, not the story sold to us on tv. I will absolutely be recommending this book to my friends. This is a must-read for women in their late 20s, early 30s!
Katie T, Librarian
✨️Review✨️
Television For Women: by Danit Brown
6/5 🌙's
ARC release date June 2025
Overview: Estie isn’t sure she likes being eight months pregnant. She isn’t even sure she likes her husband anymore, especially after he hid that he’s been fired from his job—just in time for parenthood. Goodbye upward mobility! Goodbye life as Estie imagined it! Now, she’s stranded and bloated and alone. Her cat is not a people person, and on top of it all, her best friend has been ignoring her calls ever since Estie told her about the baby.
This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review via @netgalley
Review: *First let me start this statement by saying that I did Review this book very high. Although I didn't care for a few of the characters choices in the book I understand that post partum depression effects everyone differently. This Review may contain spoilers so let me say this first:
Every father, mother, brother, sister should read this book and pay attention to the women in your life post partum. They may truly need your help*
Spoilers possible after here:
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Second let me say as a mother who suffered with post partum depression after giving birth to my first child I believe this book was very accurate. The deep feelings, the emotions, the painful thoughts, all of it was very real. I read this book in a couple of days after a long slump. It was exactly what I needed. It was gripping, it was emotional, and it was relatable. I would say more importantly it is EDUCATIONAL. Yes I said that right. Post partum depression is real and many women suffer with this condition. I was able to mask in front of my family members outside of my home but my husband could see that something wasn't right with me. I am thankful every day for his advice and help during such a tough time in my life. This book shows that love can withstand the harshest conditions. That love is the first to notice when things aren't right. This book could help others notice signs or symptoms like not showering, emotional turmoil, etc. I couldn't recommend this book enough. I feel like the author really understands this topic If she herself hasn't suffered through it. Definitely a must read for anyone with women in their lives. The complicated truth of friendships changing after giving birth and new ones developing. When you become a mother you "molt" into something new.
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