Comprehensive, accessible and incredibly useful' – Naga Munchetty, BBC Radio 5 Live

Of all the conditions that expose the cracks in modern women's healthcare, endometriosis is perhaps the best example. While it affects 1 in 10 women—roughly the same prevalence as diabetes—it remains chronically underfunded and poorly understood. This month, we read Jen Moore's Endometriosis to examine why women's pain is so routinely dismissed.

Moore challenges the view that endometriosis is limited to painful periods. She reveals a whole-body disease that the medical establishment has historically failed to take seriously. Patients face an average diagnosis delay of nearly a decade, and medical students often receive no mandatory training on the condition at all. Moore's own journey involved twenty-two years of navigating a system that normalised her pain before she received a correct diagnosis.

Our discussion will use Moore's work to address broader systemic failures in women's health. We will explore why research into conditions like endometriosis lags so far behind other fields and discuss how medical authority figures decide whose suffering is real. The conversation will also cover the heavy burden placed on patients to become their own case managers in a broken system. You do not need to have endometriosis to join. This is a conversation for anyone interested in the politics of bodies, the history of medicine, and the ongoing fight for a healthcare system that listens to us.

When Jennifer Case became pregnant unexpectedly with her second child, she was overwhelmed at the prospect of caring for another child in a society with high expectations and low support for mothers. She sought to reclaim control over, if not her changing body, then at least her rapidly declining mental health. Immersing herself in research, Case learned that the United States has one of the highest maternal death rates among developed countries. One in every five women develops a mental health issue as a result of pregnancy. It became clear to her that in order to address the sexism and isolation mothers face—including the racism that further marginalizes women of color—we must recognize these as social problems that affect us all.

We Are Animals draws attention to these issues by examining key moments in Case's life where her experience as both a woman in twenty-first-century America and a child-bearing mammal, and the conflicts between these two identities, were brought into sharp relief. From the surprising salve of parasocial interactions on baby forums to the not so surprisingly intertwined history of industrial dairy farming and wearable breast pumps, Case explores an array of realities that give historical and cultural context to the experience of motherhood.

The essays collected here offer a balm for women who have struggled in silence over childbirth trauma, conflicted responses to motherhood, or a deeply felt intuition that what their bodies needed as mothers did not match what society provided. They also offer a much needed, nuanced perspective for policymakers, activists, and medical professionals who continue to shape women's experience of motherhood.

In a place where medicine was used to harm, she vowed to heal

Occupied France, 1942: Psychiatrist Dr. Adélaïde Hautval is arrested for defending a Jewish family. When she's deported to Auschwitz and assigned to the women's infirmary, she's ordered to assist with sterilization experiments under SS doctors—including the infamous Josef Mengele. As the line between healing and harm blurs, Adélaïde makes a choice that could cost her everything.

London, 1964: Two decades later, one of the Nazi doctors is on trial—and Adélaïde is the key to exposing the truth.

Based on a remarkable true story, The Doctor of Auschwitz is a haunting and unforgettable novel about choosing humanity over survival and finding the courage to speak the truth.

A BBC Top 100 Novels that Shaped Our World

Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself.

Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portraits, Homegoing is a searing and profound debut from a masterly new writer.

'This incredible book travels from Ghana to the US revealing how slavery destroyed so many families, traditions and lives - and how its terrifying impact is still reverberating now. Gyasi has created a story of real power and insight' Stylist, the Decade's 15 Best Books by Remarkable Women

When Ali learns that she is expecting a child with CFC syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects the heart, face, skin, and development, her world is shaken up. Doctors tell her that her baby will not even survive pregnancy but, against all odds, Carys is born. In this powerful literary memoir, Ali shares her journey as the mother of Carys, reflecting on motherhood, identity, the female body, and the able and dis-abled body, while exploring social and political definitions of normality. This memoir also interrogates how pregnancy, aging, and disability are all appropriated by public discourses without addressing individual needs. Isaac brings forth a myriad of non-normative bodies in a beautiful narrative that feels powerful and liberating.