11 Motherhood Books That Actually Capture What to Expect When You’re Expecting
These must-read novels by Ann Patchett, Rachel Yoder, and more explore the messy reality of being a mom.
When you're looking to get lost in a book, sometimes you need your reading material to match your mood. With Marie Claire's series "Buy the Book," we do the heavy lifting for you. We're offering curated, highly specific recommendations for whatever you're looking for—whether you're in your feels or hooked on a subgenre trending on #BookTok.
Between the health risks of pregnancy, the physical and emotional strain of raising a child—which often come with financial implications and lack of federal support— believe us when we say: Moms are total badasses.
Of course, welcoming a newborn is the first of many milestones. After the baby comes the mother load, or the often trying postpartum fourth trimester, and the doorway into parenthood. As if that weren’t enough, many new mothers are thrust into learning on the job, making motherhood ripe for messes and mess-ups.
No two mothers are alike, but there is a universality to stories about the deeply human experience of child-rearing—whether it be the relatability of guardian-child relationships, or grappling with changing relationships with oneself, one's body, or loved ones. Authors have long explored all of the components of motherhood—and in recent years, many bestsellers have taken a no-holds-barred approach to portraying the complex realities of being a mom and the societal pressures they face.
Below, we've compiled the best books that capture the beautiful and complicated chaos of motherhood—never holding back on the realities of the fourth trimester and beyond.
Ari lives in upstate New York with her well-meaning husband and 1-year-old son, Walker. Stuck at home in a small town, Ari spends most of her time feeling alone—even when her husband is home. He’s simply incapable of commiserating (or fathoming) the labyrinth of feelings (wonder, fury, guilt) she cycles through on any given day. So, isolated without a friend in sight, she tries to make sense of the brutality that made her a mother: a caesarean that was wholly traumatizing.
Then Mina, pregnant and unpartnered, moves to town. Ari is immediately besotted. The two hit it off. And, after Mina has a home birth, she and Ari nurture their kids side by side. But, as the two draw closer, Mina starts to consider her future. Told in stark, economical prose, After Birth is at once hilarious and heart-wrenching. For those who slurped down Big Swiss or are in search of a book that validates all the feelings of being a mother, this is for you.
Wrought with grief, Hannah, a recent widower, makes a terrible mistake, landing her daughters in foster care. While navigating the at-times infuriating social services, Hannah learns that she’s not the only person vying for custody of her children. So is Julie, the temporary foster parent, who has taken in children after navigating the heavy storm of infertility. Even still, she didn’t anticipate bonding with the girls so strongly.
But that’s not all. Hannah’s estranged mother is also fighting for custody of her granddaughters in hopes of righting wrongs she made with Hannah. As these three go head-to-head, larger questions emerge about how mothers have little room for mistakes or being human. Perfect for your book club, Hadley Leggett's dramatic, feel-good read will have your group chat exploding with thoughts.
Back with her sophomore novel, Leila Mottley’s newest piece follows a group of “Girls” in a small town in Florida’s panhandle. Shifting through various narrators, readers are immersed in the lives of Simone, Adela, and Emory as they each experience difficult times. Simone, the de facto leader and oldest of the group, is already a mom to twins, but learns she is pregnant again by their father, Tooth. An unreliable co-parent and partner, Simone is unsure of bringing another baby into the world with him. Before it’s too late, she needs to decide whether she wants to continue the pregnancy.
Then there’s Adela, a high school competitive swimmer with eyes on making the Olympic team, who becomes pregnant back at home in Indiana. Sent to spend her pregnancy with her grandmother, Adela is immediately attracted to “The Girls” and their wildness. Soon, she befriends them and becomes entangled in a love triangle steeped in manipulation and dishonesty.
Emory, meanwhile, is juggling so much. From caring for her baby to getting into college, Emory has more than enough on her plate. But when she finds herself attracted to a person other than her boyfriend, Emory begins to wonder what else is out there, if she’s brave enough to look.
Pulling back the curtain and debunking stereotypes of abortion and teen pregnancy, The Girls Who Grew Big is a portrayal of the primal strength of mothers, found family, and resilience against the odds.
It’s the last day of maternity leave before our protagonist returns to work. To mark the occasion, the unnamed narrator has decided to have a “farewell tour” with her small children, Felix and Rudy. With her husband on a work trip, she intends to spend the perfect day with her sons: pancakes, park, and a stop at the library.
The day is anything but perfect. From an abundance of temper tantrums to a shocking discovery in her husband’s gym bag, the protagonist is hanging on by a thread—and it’s not even noon. A Mrs. Dalloway for our era, Natural Disaster is hard not to race through. Marrying humor, tension, and so much realness of raising two under four, Natural Disaster bursts out of the gate and doesn’t stop galloping until the final page. Relatable on so many levels, parents and non-parents will devour this novel.
Nightbitch is exhausted. Her husband is often on the road for work, leaving her with their toddler, who rarely sleeps through the night. Left with few options, she turns to the library where she discovers a book that describes, at least in part, what she’s going through. No, it's not about new motherhood; she thinks she’s turning into a dog.
A former gallerist, the unnamed narrator begins to rethink her stance on motherhood. To her, it might be the grandest art form she hadn't yet considered. So, as Nightbitch progresses through her transformation, readers are given a front row seat to the violence that occurs during birth and resentment (and subsequent guilt) that may follow.
Whether you watched the movie before the book (or vice versa), Nightbitch invites readers to confront uncomfortable truths about parenthood. Framed by an absurdist (and delightful) premise, this bestseller might have one of the most honest portrayals of motherhood—fur and all.
Rocky and her family are at their longtime summer rental in Cape Cod for the week. As the days meander, Rocky reflects on past summers when her children were little, and her parents’s health was less of a worry. But now, with her youngest about to vault into adulthood, she has other things on her mind. Like caring for her parents and dealing with the monstrosity that is menopause, and the long-buried memories that surface with the current. Memories she’s never talked about.
Epitomizing the meaning of a big-hearted novel, Sandwich brims with humor, nostalgia, and a family you might wish would adopt you. With unforgettable characters (fortunately, there’s a sequel if you want more Rocky in your life) and a relatable plot, Newman captures the fleeting chapter of being a caregiver to family members across generations.
You can’t talk about motherhood without discussing the societal pressures placed on parents. In this near-future dystopian novel, newly single mom Frida is exhausted. She’s had several sleepless nights lately and is utterly overwhelmed. So, with a work deadline looming and fatigue settling into her bones, she makes a choice that changes her life: She leaves her toddler, Harriet, home alone for a bit.
After her neighbors hear Harriet crying, they report Frida to the authorities. According to protocol, Frida is entered into a social services program that assesses her ability to mother Harriet. During the investigation, her daughter will live with her ex and his new wife (ouch). The chaperoned visits, also held at her ex’s place (double ouch), do not go according to plan, and soon, Frida is sent to a school where “bad mothers” learn to be good. Should she fail the program, Frida may lose custody of her daughter for good. But with harrowing tests and impossible expectations, an uphill battle stands between Frida and reuniting with Harriet.
Damning and engrossing, The School for Good Mothers forces readers to confront their own biases while engaging in a deeply immersive and propulsive plot. Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, Chain-Gang All-Stars, and Hum will relish this sharply rendered portrait of parenthood and the systems that surround it.
To some, birth is a beginning. But it’s also, in some ways, an end. The birthing parent’s life as they knew it is over. Soldier ruminates on all the ways her world has changed since having Sailor, her now 4-year-old son.
She confesses this to him as he sleeps—grappling with the whole-body love she feels for him and the grief over losing elements of her former self. But it's not only she who's changed. Her marriage has changed, too. Soldier observes the emotional and mental load she carries compared to her husband. Then, she has a chance encounter with an old friend, supercharging her imagination.
In Soldier Sailor, Claire Kilroy untangles the messy, marvelous, and mundane elements of being a mom. Unsparing yet lyrical, this novel zooms in on the tough parts of parenting while honoring the unfathomable love it can bring, too.
The pressures on mothers are staggering. Still Born pushes against such pressures, illuminating the harsh, unrelenting demands that pregnant people (and new parents) encounter daily. But this isn’t some grim or heady read. In fact, hope seeps through the pages.
Close friends Alina and Laura are tackling their mid-30s. All is going smoothly until life pokes its head out of the sand. Previously, the two bonded over their choices to remain childless. But now, Alina begins to feel an unexpected pull toward motherhood. So, when Alina becomes pregnant and learns her baby likely won’t survive birth, she begins to reconsider her views on mothering. And as the friends move through Alina’s pregnancy, they realize that maternal instincts can stretch far beyond biological ties.
Not everyone gets to play Emily in Our Town. But Lara, the narrator in this Ann Patchett favorite, has had the opportunity multiple times: First in high school and then later with Tom Lake, a theater company in northern Michigan. Cut to the present day, and it’s the middle of the COVID lockdown, and Lara is no longer an actress. She’s a cherry farmer who’s guiltily loving having her three adult daughters home.
As Lara and her daughters pick cherries, the topic of Peter Duke, actor of George Clooney-level stardom, comes up—because, once upon a time, Lara and Peter starred in the same production of Our Town and led a very hot, very heavy romance. However, this time Lara doesn’t hold back, now that the girls are old enough to hear the details. A spectacular account of motherhood and the identity that stretches beyond the label, Tom Lake rolls without a ripple. Lush, vibrant, and intimate, this novel is as intoxicating as it is enthralling.
April Soto had never really gotten out of Philadelphia, becoming a mom in high school. So, when her friends are out partying and planning their futures, April has been caring for her daughter, Noelle. Sharing her home with her mother, grandmother, and daughter, April sometimes feels like the walls are closing in. Especially when her anger takes over. One night at dinner, her rage reaches new proportions, causing April to run out of the house and leave Noelle with her family. At first, she thought she’d be gone a week or a bit longer—enough time to cool off.
As days pass and April experiences the rites of passage she hadn't gotten to, she finds it more difficult to go back. Primarily an epistolary novel, The White Hot captures the frequent disparity between opportunities provided to mothers and fathers, lost youth (and dreams), and multi-generational trauma and love. A snack of a book, this page-turner won’t let you out of its grip once you start reading.
