7 Novels that Explore the Complexity of Motherhood with Stunning Originality -- in Every Genre

I was so raw and exposed as a new mother that sometimes it (illogically) felt like my young children were conspiring to test me and find my outermost limits. The Push captures that disorienting time -- and then takes it up to a stunning level for a read that will have you turning the pages quickly, but that will also leave a lasting impression. When you’re done, graduate to The Whispers, the author’s sophomore stunner.

Long before we had the vocabulary of choice that we have in 2024, we had Emily Giffin. Her 2006 (!) novel explores what happens to the perfect couple who agrees to remain childfree by choice, when suddenly they want different things in a family. Giffin’s more recent novel, All We Wanted, goes on to explore when a couple changes their perspectives and decisions much later into the journey of family. Both are must-reads.

Whatever you think you know about this novel, forget it because it will exceed every expectation. It’s a compelling, tender and complex investigation of what it means to be a family. When young Margo finds herself pregnant, she also finds herself surprised by her own parents’ reactions. It is a heartwarming joy to watch them stumble and grow up together.

I could have selected any Mary Kubica novel to fit this category. I chose Kubica’s debut because that’s how long I’ve been reading her work. In The Good Girl, a young woman goes missing and the story unravels her seemingly perfect family and her perfect life. Read this before or after She’s Not Sorry to watch a master at work over a decade.

Motherhood also includes grandmothers, as The Turtle House elegantly demonstrates. The novel carries readers through time as granddaughter Lia and grandmother Mineko come of age in 1990s Texas and pre-WWII Japan. This gorgeous story of intergenerational friendship, and the sacrifices we make as women, will capture your heart.

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last -- but it’s not because of unmet expectations, it’s because Lewis is becoming a great white shark. Hence, the title, Shark Heart. While Wren reckons with this change, she realizes she has gone through this abandonment before. A gorgeous story for people who love metaphors and engaging their full imagination when reading about the universal emotions of domesticity.

In this novel, the main character, Kathleen, investigates motherhood from the POV of a daughter when she returns home in the aftermath of a breakup and rekindles a relationship with her estranged mother. The story is also about care, intimacy, and forgiveness. I still think about the final scenes to this day.