Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores the haunting legacy of slavery through Sethe, a woman who escapes to freedom but remains captive to her memories. The story centers on the devastating choice she made as a mother to protect her child from bondage, and the ghost that returns to claim a relationship.
Beloved is a profound examination of maternal love, trauma, and the unbearable costs of memory.
Narrated by five-year-old Jack, who has lived his entire life in a single room with his Ma, this novel is an extraordinary story of survival. It is a testament to the power of a mother’s love to create a world for her child in the most harrowing of circumstances and explores the difficult journey into the real world after they escape.
In the placid suburb of Shaker Heights, the lives of the Richardson family and their enigmatic tenants, Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl, become intertwined.
The novel culminates in a custody battle over an abandoned baby, forcing every character to confront their beliefs about what makes a mother and who deserves to be one, exposing fault lines of race, class, and privilege.
Through a series of letters from a mother to her estranged husband, Eva Khatchadourian attempts to understand her culpability after her son commits a horrific school massacre. The novel is an unflinching examination of maternal ambivalence, the limits of parental responsibility, and the terrifying question of nature versus nurture.
This novel weaves together the stories of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters.
Through a series of vignettes, it explores the cultural chasms, generational conflicts, and unspoken histories that shape their bonds, highlighting the profound and often painful ways mothers and daughters struggle to understand one one another.
When her brilliant, narcissistic poet mother Ingrid is imprisoned for murder, Astrid Magnussen is cast into the Los Angeles foster care system.
Her journey through a series of homes becomes a search for identity in the shadow of her mother’s powerful and destructive influence, exploring themes of resilience, abandonment, and the struggle to define oneself apart from one’s origins.
On a solo seaside vacation, a middle-aged professor named Leda becomes obsessed with a young mother and her daughter. The encounter unleashes a torrent of memories about her own difficult, unconventional choices as a parent.
Ferrante’s novel is a brutally honest exploration of maternal ambivalence and the conflict between self-realization and familial duty.
After the brilliant but agoraphobic architect Bernadette Fox vanishes, her 15-year-old daughter, Bee, pieces together a trail of emails and documents to find her.
The novel is a quirky, satirical, and ultimately touching look at a mother’s identity crisis, the suffocation of creative genius by domesticity, and a daughter’s unwavering faith in her mother.
The narrator of this philosophical novel grapples with the monumental decision of whether or not to have children. Through a series of internal monologues and conversations, she dissects societal expectations, the nature of legacy, and the relationship between artistic creation and procreation.
It is a singular, introspective work about choice and the construction of a woman’s life.
This novel charts the lifelong, complex friendship between Nel Wright and Sula Peace in a Black Ohio community. It powerfully contrasts their divergent paths and choices regarding family and independence, scrutinizing the roles of mother and wife.
Morrison examines how their relationships with their own mothers—Nel’s conventional mother Helene and Sula’s detached mother Hannah—shape their identities and destinies.
During a prolonged hospital stay, Lucy Barton is visited by her estranged mother, and their quiet conversations unearth memories of a childhood marked by poverty and trauma. This slim, powerful novel examines the unspoken language of love and pain between mother and daughter, and how narrative is used to make sense of a fractured past.
Furious, funny, and raw, this novel follows Ari, a new mother grappling with postpartum isolation and the trauma of a difficult birth.
Feeling abandoned by the mainstream world of parenting, she forms an intense friendship with a pregnant musician, exploring themes of female community, the primal realities of motherhood, and the need for a modern "village."
On a snowy night in 1964, a doctor delivers his own twins and makes a split-second decision to give his daughter, who has Down syndrome, to a nurse to be raised separately.
This secret act shapes the lives of two families over decades, exploring themes of grief, guilt, forgiveness, and the devastating consequences of a father's choice on a mother's life.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story follows 14-year-old Lily Owens as she runs away from her abusive father to uncover the truth about her deceased mother. She finds refuge with a trio of Black beekeeping sisters, who become a powerful surrogate family. The novel is a moving tale of found family and the healing power of female community.
This powerful memoir is written by the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters in the Columbine High School massacre. With devastating honesty, Sue Klebold chronicles her journey through immense grief and shame, searching for answers and examining every memory for clues she might have missed.
It is a courageous look at parental responsibility and the intersection of mental health and violence.
A psychological thriller that taps into the deepest anxieties of new parenthood, this novel follows a group of Brooklyn mothers whose night out turns into a nightmare when one of their babies is abducted. The ensuing investigation exposes the secrets, judgments, and immense pressures that define modern motherhood.
This gripping psychological drama explores a mother’s darkest fear: that there is something wrong with her child. Blythe Connor struggles to connect with her daughter, Violet, whose disturbing behavior forces Blythe to confront her own traumatic upbringing.
The novel is a tense, unsettling examination of nature versus nurture and the crushing weight of maternal expectations.
A young, pregnant woman flees her husband and finds refuge at St. Elizabeth's, a Catholic home for unwed mothers in rural Kentucky. With the intention of giving her child up for adoption, she unexpectedly finds herself staying.
The novel explores the complex, tangled decisions surrounding motherhood, faith, and the secrets we keep to build a new life.
In 1970s Ohio, a mixed-race Chinese-American family is shattered by the death of their favored daughter, Lydia.
As they struggle to understand the tragedy, the narrative reveals the weight of parental expectations, the secrets each family member harbors, and the profound loneliness that comes from being misunderstood by those who should know you best.
Taylor Greer flees rural Kentucky for a new life and unexpectedly becomes the caretaker of an abandoned Native American child she names Turtle. This novel celebrates the concept of found families and unconventional motherhood, exploring themes of community, social justice, and the powerful, resilient network of women who support one another.
A group of highly educated women who left their careers to raise children find themselves at a crossroads a decade later. As their children become more independent, they question their choices, friendships, and marriages, grappling with what it means to be fulfilled.
The novel is a sharp, insightful look at the compromises and ambitions of modern mothers.
In this dystopian novel, Frida Liu has one bad day and is sentenced to a state-run institution where she must learn to be a "good mother." Under constant surveillance and subjected to psychological tests with robotic dolls, Frida and other mothers are pushed to their limits.
The book is a chilling critique of societal pressures and the impossible standards placed on mothers.
A lighthouse keeper and his wife, living in isolation off the coast of Australia, are reeling from multiple miscarriages when a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a living baby. Their decision to raise the child as their own leads to devastating moral consequences.
The novel is a heartbreaking exploration of love, grief, and the lines between right and wrong.
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of the new South, but their lives are torn apart when Roy is wrongfully convicted of a crime. As Roy serves his sentence, Celestial finds comfort in a childhood friend.
The novel examines the profound impact of incarceration on a family and asks difficult questions about loyalty, love, and responsibility when a marriage is broken by outside forces.
In the dystopian Republic of Gilead, women are stripped of their rights and fertile "Handmaids" are forced to bear children for the ruling elite. Narrator Offred clings to memories of her own daughter and mother while navigating the oppressive regime.
The novel is a searing exploration of state-controlled reproduction, maternal bonds, and the fight for autonomy.
An artist, suffocated by the demands of new motherhood, becomes convinced she is turning into a dog. This surreal, darkly funny novel uses its wild premise to explore maternal rage, the loss of identity, and the feral instincts lurking beneath the surface of domestic life.
It is a ferocious and unforgettable take on the transformations of motherhood.
A landmark of early feminist literature, this novel tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a wife and mother in late 19th-century New Orleans who rebels against the restrictive social conventions of her time.
Her "awakening" involves rejecting her role as a "mother-woman" in a desperate search for personal and artistic freedom, with tragic consequences.
Spanning decades and continents, this novel traces the lives of three generations of women—a grandmother, mother, and daughter—from a small village in India to Houston, Texas. Their stories of love, ambition, and betrayal reveal the complex and powerful ways a mother’s choices and secrets echo through her daughter’s life.
Harriet and David Lovatt want a large, happy family in a sprawling old house, but their idyllic dream is shattered by the birth of their fifth child, Ben. Ben is a violent, unsettling, and alien presence who terrorizes the family.
This chilling novella is a powerful allegory about the dark side of domesticity and a mother’s duty to a child she cannot love.
In this powerful memoir, Nefertiti Austin chronicles her journey to adopt a Black son as a single Black woman in America.
She confronts the biases within the adoption system and the overwhelmingly white narrative of adoption, offering a vital and necessary perspective on creating a family and navigating race and motherhood in a society that often overlooks her experience.
This novel deftly weaves together two stories: one of Lexie Sinclair, a fiercely independent woman in 1950s London, and the other of Elina, a new mother struggling in the present day.
The hidden connection between them is gradually revealed, creating a poignant narrative about memory, secrets, and the profound, life-altering experience of becoming a mother.
Over a long Labor Day weekend, a lonely, depressed single mother and her 13-year-old son give shelter to an escaped convict. As the stranger teaches them about life, love, and family, their isolated world is transformed. The novel is a touching story about the need for a father figure and a mother’s cautious return to life.
This immersive historical novel imagines the life of William Shakespeare’s family, focusing on his fiercely intelligent wife, Agnes, and the devastating death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. It is a profound meditation on maternal grief, the mysterious connections between twins, and how personal tragedy can be transformed into timeless art.
Based on the author’s own life, this novel explores the deep but agonizing bond between two sisters. Yoli’s sister, Elfrieda, is a world-renowned concert pianist who desperately wants to die, while Yoli struggles to keep her alive.
The story is a heartbreaking and often funny look at family, mental illness, and a mother's and sister's struggle with the desire to protect a loved one.
Kingsolver masterfully alternates between two families living in the same house in Vineland, New Jersey, but separated by more than a century. Both families face precarious times and a crumbling foundation, literally and figuratively.
The novel explores what it means to be a parent and provide shelter for your children in a world that feels unstable and threatening.
In this spare, poetic novella, a woman gives birth to her first child just as London is submerged by a catastrophic flood. The narrator and her baby are forced to flee, becoming refugees in their own country. The book powerfully captures the overwhelming, primal experience of new motherhood against a backdrop of global crisis.
This sweeping novel follows the lives of two families forever linked by a shocking act of violence. It is a profound exploration of the enduring power of childhood friendship and love, and a moving portrait of parents struggling with the consequences of mental illness and the complexities of forgiveness across generations.
This epic novel traces the descendants of two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana. One marries an English slave trader and remains in Africa, while the other is sold into slavery in America.
The book follows their lineages through 300 years of history, powerfully illustrating how the legacy of trauma, resilience, and motherhood is passed down through generations.
When an elderly mother gets separated from her husband and goes missing in a Seoul subway station, her adult children and husband begin a desperate search. Their quest triggers a flood of memories and regrets, forcing them to confront how little they truly knew about the woman who sacrificed everything for them.
Written in sharp, fragmented vignettes, this novel charts the course of a marriage, from the early days of passion to the quiet struggles of parenthood and the devastation of infidelity. Offill perfectly captures the texture of domestic life and a mother’s inner world, creating a powerful portrait of a family in crisis.
Ashley Keller is a new mom overwhelmed by the pressure to be a perfect parent, especially when compared to the flawless mothers on social media. This hilarious and relatable novel follows her journey as she competes to become a "Mother of the Year," offering a candid and refreshing take on the messiness and anxieties of modern motherhood.
The novel follows four new mothers in Philadelphia as they navigate the joys and challenges of parenthood. From postpartum depression and marital strain to career anxieties and friendship, Weiner creates an honest, warm, and compelling portrait of the powerful solidarity that forms among women during this transformative time in their lives.
Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two young girls. The assignment forces her to confront her own traumatic past and her dangerously neurotic mother, Adora. This dark, gothic thriller is a chilling exploration of toxic mother-daughter relationships and the cycles of violence passed down through generations.
In this hilarious, honest, and deeply moving journal, Anne Lamott documents the first year of her son’s life. As a single mother, she chronicles her struggles with faith, sobriety, poverty, and loneliness, all while capturing the overwhelming love and wonder of having a child. It is a classic memoir on the chaos and grace of early motherhood.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel connects three women across time: Virginia Woolf as she writes Mrs. Dalloway, a 1950s housewife suffocating in suburbia, and a modern-day New York editor.
All three women grapple with their identities, desires, and the roles prescribed for them, including that of mother, creating a profound meditation on freedom and fulfillment.
This epic historical novel follows four generations of a Korean family in Japan, beginning with Sunja, a young woman whose unplanned pregnancy forces her to leave her home. Her sacrifice and resilience form the foundation of her family's story as they face discrimination and hardship.
It is a powerful examination of family, legacy, and a mother’s enduring love.
Through a series of letters, this iconic novel tells the story of Celie, a poor, abused Black woman in the early 20th-century South.
Celie’s life is defined by the loss of her children and her oppressive husband, but she finds strength and love through her relationships with other women, particularly the glamorous singer Shug Avery, who helps her reclaim her life.
This novel, split into two parts, explores the lives of three women grappling with what it means to be female in modern Japan. The first section focuses on a woman’s obsession with breast implants, while the second follows her sister’s journey to have a child on her own via a sperm donor.
It is a sharp, thoughtful critique of societal expectations and female bodily autonomy.
When her estranged, glamorous mother dies, Elsie is forced to unravel the woman’s secret-filled past. The more she learns, the more she questions her own identity and the nature of their fractured relationship. The novel is a compelling mystery about how we can never fully know our parents and how their hidden lives shape our own.
Frank and April Wheeler are a bright, beautiful young couple who believe they are destined for more than a conventional life in 1950s suburbia. This devastating novel chronicles the disintegration of their marriage and their dreams, powerfully illustrating how the pressures of parenthood and conformity can extinguish the brightest of spirits.
The Cappadora family is torn apart when their three-year-old son, Ben, vanishes from a crowded hotel lobby. This novel, the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, is a harrowing and deeply emotional exploration of a mother’s grief, and the complex fallout when, nine years later, Ben is found living just a few blocks away.
Set in Nigeria, this novel tells the story of Yejide and Akin, a married couple whose inability to conceive a child invites crushing family pressure and desperate measures.
Told from both perspectives, the narrative is a devastating portrait of the secrets and betrayals that arise from the societal demand for motherhood, and the incredible lengths people will go to for love and family.
In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Rachel Cusk documents the seismic shift in her identity after the birth of her first child.
She dissects the clichés of motherhood with intellectual rigor and wit, exploring the isolation, ambivalence, and profound transformation that the experience entails, making it a vital work for anyone who has felt alienated by sanitized parenting narratives.
An unexpected teenage pregnancy connects two families from different social classes. The novel unfolds across generations, exploring how this one event—and the decision for the baby, Melody, to be raised by her grandparents—reverberates through time, shaping identities and revealing the hopes, secrets, and legacies of a modern Black family.
Abandoned by her family as a child, Kya Clark raises herself in the marshes of North Carolina. Shunned by the local town, she becomes a brilliant naturalist, finding solace and maternal lessons in the wild around her.
The book is a powerful story of survival, resilience, and the ways a person can learn to mother themselves in the absence of a family.
The fourth novel in the Patrick Melrose series finds Patrick as a father himself, struggling not to repeat the cycles of abuse and neglect that defined his own childhood.
With biting wit and psychological acuity, St Aubyn examines the immense challenges of parenthood, inheritance, and the desperate attempt to give your children a better life than the one you had.
This epic novel tells the story of two generations of Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become intertwined by war and fate. Their story is one of profound suffering, but also of an unbreakable bond that forms between them.
Laila’s fierce, protective love for her children in the face of Taliban oppression is a testament to the resilience of a mother’s spirit.
Reta Winters, a successful writer and happy mother of three, finds her world shattered when her eldest daughter inexplicably drops out of college to sit on a street corner holding a sign that says "GOODNESS." Reta’s search for an explanation becomes a profound meditation on feminism, language, and the invisible constraints placed on women’s lives.
Single mother Alice is diagnosed with a terminal illness, forcing her to confront the unthinkable: preparing her teenage daughter, who struggles with severe anxiety, for a future without her.
The novel is a heartfelt and moving exploration of the fierce, unconditional love of a mother and the community of friends who rally to support a family in crisis.
This novel blends magical realism with a powerful love story, set on the mythical sea island of Willow Springs, a community governed by the matriarch Mama Day. When her grandniece Cocoa falls gravely ill, her New York-raised husband must put aside his rational beliefs to save her.
It’s a rich exploration of ancestral wisdom, family legacy, and matriarchal power.
While focused on the romance between Marianne and Connell, this novel provides a sharp look at the impact of mothers on their children.
Connell’s close, supportive relationship with his single working-class mother, Lorraine, stands in stark contrast to Marianne’s connection with her wealthy, neglectful, and emotionally cold mother, Denise, highlighting how maternal influence shapes our ability to love and be loved.
A brother and sister, Danny and Maeve, are exiled from their childhood home by their stepmother. Over five decades, they return to sit in a car outside the house, unable to let go of the past.
The novel is a poignant story about the indelible bond between siblings and their long-term reckoning with a mother who abandoned them and a father who failed them.
Twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone are born in Ethiopia and orphaned at birth when their mother, a nun, dies in labor. Raised by a loving community of doctors, their lives are forever shaped by their mother’s absence and their unknown father’s identity. The novel is a sweeping epic about family, medicine, and the search for belonging.
A vulnerable girl from inner-city Brooklyn is sent to stay with a host family in rural upstate New York through the Fresh Air Fund. There, she forms a powerful bond with a difficult, abused horse, and a complex, tentative one with her host mother, Ginger.
The novel is an unflinching look at class, race, and the messy, challenging work of mothering a child who is not your own.
Over the course of a single day, Maggie and Ira Moran drive to a funeral and back, their journey punctuated by detours, arguments, and memories. Maggie is a meddlesome, impulsive, and deeply loving mother who is desperate to fix her family’s problems.
This Pulitzer Prize-winner is a funny and wise portrait of a long marriage and the enduring, if sometimes exasperating, ties of family.
Structured as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother, this novel is a shattering portrait of a Vietnamese-American family. Little Dog recounts his and his mother's history, marked by the trauma of war, poverty, and abuse, but also by moments of fierce, tender love.
It is a profound exploration of language, identity, and the bond between a mother and son.
When her Black nanny dies in childbirth, Rebecca, a white poet and mother, adopts her nanny’s newborn son. Set in the 1980s, the novel thoughtfully explores the complexities of transracial adoption, privilege, and the blind spots of a well-meaning parent. It is a nuanced examination of what it means to be a mother across lines of race and class.
This novel interweaves the story of a young girl who vanishes from a shopping mall in 1984 with the lives of two security guards working at the same mall 20 years later. It's a haunting and poignant look at loneliness, memory, and the enduring grief of a mother whose child is never found.
Based on a real-life historical scandal, this novel tells the story of the Foss siblings, who were stolen from their family’s riverboat and forced into a corrupt Tennessee orphanage.
The narrative alternates between their harrowing past and the present-day story of a lawyer uncovering her family's secrets, revealing a powerful tale of resilience and the enduring trauma of separated families.
When Jenny’s 15-year-old daughter Naomi disappears, her seemingly perfect family life begins to crumble. As she desperately searches for answers, she realizes how little she knew about her daughter and her husband.
This psychological thriller is a gripping story of a mother’s guilt and her dawning horror at the secrets lurking beneath the surface of her own home.
Ingrid writes letters to her husband, revealing the secrets of their tumultuous marriage, and hides them in the books of his library. Years after she disappears, their daughter Flora returns home and begins to piece together the truth about her mother’s life.
The novel is a moving exploration of memory, loss, and the stories we tell about our families.
In 1950s India, Lakshmi escapes an abusive marriage to become a celebrated henna artist for the wealthy women of Jaipur. Her hard-won independence is threatened by the arrival of the husband she left behind and a young sister she never knew she had.
The novel is a vibrant story of a woman creating her own life and grappling with the unexpected responsibilities of family.
When her high-achieving daughter, Amelia, is found dead at her elite private school, Kate is told it was suicide. But an anonymous text message—“She didn’t jump”—sends Kate on a desperate search for the truth.
The novel unfolds through texts, emails, and status updates, painting a terrifying picture of modern adolescence and a mother’s frantic quest to understand her daughter’s hidden life.
A writer travels to Athens to teach a writing course. Through a series of conversations with the people she meets, their stories are revealed, while her own life—including her role as a mother—remains a subtle, structuring absence.
The novel is a brilliant exploration of storytelling, identity, and the ways we define ourselves in relation to others.
Ten years after her teenage daughter Ellie disappeared, Laurel Mack finally begins to put her life back together. But when she meets a charming new man, she is unsettled by his nine-year-old daughter, who bears a striking resemblance to Ellie.
This gripping thriller explores a mother’s grief and the dark, obsessive secrets behind a child’s disappearance.
This classic novel follows the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—as they grow from girls into women. At the heart of their story is their beloved mother, Marmee, who guides them through poverty, war, and personal struggles with wisdom and grace. It is an enduring portrait of sisterhood, family, and the quiet strength of a loving matriarch.
Tyler’s novel chronicles the lives of the Whitshank family across three generations, centered on their beloved Baltimore home.
With warmth and insight, the story explores the everyday moments, resentments, and deep-seated love that bind a family together, paying special attention to Abby, the matriarch trying to hold her flawed, sprawling family together as she ages.
Set in an unnamed city during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this Booker Prize-winning novel follows an 18-year-old girl who is being stalked by a powerful older paramilitary figure.
The narrative voice is a brilliant torrent of consciousness, capturing the oppressive atmosphere of rumor and surveillance and the protagonist's relationship with her "ma," who is both a source of stress and a key figure in her world.
This sharply funny novel became a cultural touchstone for its portrayal of Kate Reddy, a hedge fund manager and mother of two juggling a high-stakes career with the endless demands of family life. Told in a diary format, it perfectly captures the anxiety, guilt, and absurdity of trying to "have it all" in the modern workplace.
Twenty-eight years after a horrific home invasion shattered their family, sisters Charlie and Sam are forced to confront their past when another tragedy strikes their town. The novel is a gripping thriller that also serves as a powerful exploration of trauma, memory, and the complex, enduring relationship between two sisters and their parents.
Inspired by a true story, this chilling novel begins with a horrific scene: a nanny has murdered the two children in her care.
The narrative then flashes back to explore the increasingly fraught relationship between the seemingly perfect nanny and the young, bourgeois couple who hired her, exposing the tensions of class, race, and motherhood in modern Paris.
Alice Howland is a celebrated Harvard linguistics professor who, at 50 years old, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
This moving novel chronicles her decline from her own perspective, offering a terrifying and deeply compassionate look at the disease’s impact on her identity and her relationships with her husband and three adult children.
The lives of a 16-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker named Little Bee and a British magazine editor named Sarah are bound together by a horrific incident on a beach in the Niger Delta.
The novel is a powerful and challenging story about trauma, global inequality, and the moral responsibilities that connect us, with Sarah’s role as a mother central to her choices.
Ambitious magazine writer Ellen Gulden is called home to care for her mother, Kate, who is dying of cancer. Forced to put her life on hold, Ellen confronts the difficult truths about her parents’ marriage and discovers the quiet strength of the woman she barely knew.
The novel is a profound examination of the sacrifices and complex love inherent in mother-daughter relationships.
This bestselling memoir is a moving tribute to the author’s white, Jewish mother, who raised 12 Black children in Brooklyn. McBride alternates between his own story of growing up in a chaotic, loving household and his mother’s incredible life story, which she had kept hidden for decades.
It is a powerful exploration of race, religion, and a mother's fierce determination.
Gifty, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Stanford, is studying addiction and depression, the very forces that have ravaged her family. Her Ghanaian mother, hollowed out by grief, comes to stay with her, forcing Gifty to reconcile her scientific certainty with her evangelical upbringing.
The novel is a profound, intimate portrait of a mother and daughter navigating faith, loss, and the search for answers.
Set in a 1950s Liverpool hospital, this novel follows a group of young nurses as they navigate the demanding world of midwifery. They share in the joys and sorrows of the mothers they care for, while also dealing with their own dreams, heartbreaks, and the strict rules of St. Angelus Hospital.
It's a warm, nostalgic look at community and motherhood in post-war Britain.
In this bold work of autofiction, a writer leaves her husband and baby daughter to attend a speaking engagement in Nevada and never returns. Instead, she spirals into a journey through her own past, confronting the legacy of her father’s role in the Manson family and her own postpartum turmoil.
It is a raw, uncompromising novel about motherhood, depression, and female freedom.
This novel follows the lives of the Kettle triplets—Lyn, Cat, and Gemma—as they navigate love, marriage, and careers. With her signature blend of humor and heart, Moriarty explores the messy, complicated, and unbreakable bond of sisterhood, showing how their shared childhood and relationships with their parents continue to shape their adult lives.
Set in contemporary Seoul, this novel follows four young women as they navigate a world of intense beauty standards, economic inequality, and rigid social hierarchies.
While motherhood is not the central focus for all, the characters’ relationships with their own mothers and their anxieties about future families provide a critical backdrop to their struggles for identity and survival.
In a Philadelphia neighborhood ravaged by the opioid crisis, a police officer named Mickey patrols the same streets her estranged sister, Kacey, walks as an addict. When Kacey goes missing, Mickey’s search becomes a desperate and personal mission.
The novel is a gripping thriller and a heartbreaking story about sisterhood, addiction, and the maternal instinct to protect family at all costs.
In this graphic memoir, the follow-up to Fun Home, Alison Bechdel turns her focus to her complex, distant relationship with her mother. Through a collage of memories, phone calls, psychoanalytic theory, and literary analysis, Bechdel attempts to unravel the enigma of her mother and, in turn, understand herself.
In the untamed, pre-racialized world of 17th-century America, a mother makes a desperate choice to give her daughter, Florens, away to a kind stranger to save her from a brutal slave master. This act of "a mercy" haunts Florens for the rest of her life, as she seeks a maternal love to replace what she has lost.
Charles and James, two ministers, and their wives, Lily and Nan, see their lives become entwined over decades as they lead a church in New York City.
The novel explores the complexities of faith, friendship, and marriage, paying close attention to Lily’s and Nan’s very different experiences of motherhood—one struggling with infertility, the other with postpartum depression.
Rosie and Penn are parents to five boys, the youngest of whom, Claude, wants to be a girl when he grows up. This warm and compassionate novel follows their family’s journey as they navigate the world with their daughter, Poppy, trying to keep her happy and safe while grappling with secrets, community, and the boundless love of a parent.
After a fall at the gym, 39-year-old Alice wakes up believing she is 29, happily married, and pregnant with her first child. She has no memory of the last ten years—or her three children, her impending divorce, and the person she has become.
The novel is a charming and insightful look at memory, marriage, and the chance to see your life, and your role as a mother, with fresh eyes.
This hilarious and heartwarming memoir chronicles the author’s second pregnancy while she is still in the trenches of parenting her first toddler. Newman captures the chaotic, exhausting, and joyful reality of family life with wit and honesty, making it a beloved classic for parents who feel seen in its pages.
The second book in the Neapolitan Quartet follows Lila and Elena into adulthood. As Lila is trapped in a violent marriage and becomes a mother at a young age, Elena escapes Naples to pursue her education. The novel powerfully contrasts their two paths, exploring the ways motherhood can be both a prison and a source of fierce, primal strength.
When the Miller family’s fortune evaporates, the facade of their perfect Silicon Valley life crumbles. The story is told from the perspectives of the mother, Janice, and her two daughters, who must each confront the secrets and compromises that have defined their lives.
It's a sharp critique of wealth, ambition, and the lies we tell to hold a family together.
Patsy leaves her young daughter, Tru, behind in Jamaica to seek a new life and a lost love in America. The novel alternates between Patsy’s struggle as an undocumented immigrant in New York and Tru’s life back in Jamaica, growing up without her mother.
It is a heartbreaking and powerful exploration of sacrifice, sexuality, and what it means to be a "bad" mother in pursuit of freedom.
After a messy divorce, Anna Dunlap begins to build a new life for herself and her young daughter, relishing her newfound sexual and personal freedom. But when her ex-husband sues for custody, her choices as a woman and a mother are put on trial.
This provocative novel examines the societal clash between female desire and the idealized role of the mother.