PRIME MEMBER EXCLUSIVE | 3 Months Free Trial

Auto-renews at INR 199/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends 15 July, 2026.
Operating Instructions cover art

Operating Instructions

A Journal of My Son's First Year

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER
3 Months Free Trial
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July, 2026 at 11:59 PM IST.
1 credit a month to use on any title.
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks.
₹199 per month after 3 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime. Offer ends 15 July, 2026 at 11:59 PM IST.
Download titles to your library and listen offline.

Operating Instructions

Written by: Anne Lamott
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
Get this deal

₹199 per month after 3 months. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime. Offer ends 15 July, 2026 at 11:59 PM IST.

Buy Now for ₹649.68

Buy Now for ₹649.68

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The acclaimed author of Bird by Bird brings her brilliant combination of humor and warmth to a "smart, funny, and comforting" chronicle of single motherhood (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

It’s not like she’s the only woman to ever have a baby. At thirty-five. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all important first year. From finding out that her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out that her best friend and greatest supporter Pam will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but very little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events that make up a woman’s life.

"Lamott is a wonderfully lithe writer .... Anyone who has ever had a hard time facing a perfectly ordinary day will identify." —Chicago Tribune Infants & Toddlers Parenting Relationships Women
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

"A funny, self-mocking, vivid account by a gifted novelist and journalist."
--The Washington Post

"An enormous triumph . . . Charming . . . Powerful . . . A gracious book, with dozens of lovingly drawn characters and a deep, infectious religiosity throughout. It is also funny."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Smart, funny, and comforting . . .Lamott has a conversational style that perfectly conveys her friendly, self-deprecating humor."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Lamott is a wonderfully lithe writer. . . . Anyone who has ever had a hard time facing a perfectly ordinary day will identify."
--Chicago Tribune
All stars
Most relevant
A poor ignorant sinful soul, giving out loathsome and horrid operating instructions to raise a baby! Oh God forgive her!

Good heavens! What kind of a woman is this!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.