Imagine having your body radically transformed, your entire life restructured, and your sense of self profoundly altered—all while, and because, a new life is forming inside you. This deeply transformative experience, often romanticized, is rarely acknowledged for its true psychological and emotional weight. Whether the effects are positive, overwhelming, or even traumatic, the reality is that pregnancy and early motherhood can profoundly unsettle a woman’s mind, sometimes disrupting her emotional connection to herself, and even to her baby.
To truly deepen your understanding of the complex, often contradictory realities of motherhood—beyond the glossy images and idealized narratives—add these essential titles to your TBR (To Be Read) list immediately. These books offer raw, honest, and sometimes unsettling insights into what it really means to become a mother.
1. The Push
After the birth of her first child, Violet, Blythe Connor sees a chance to become the warm, nurturing mother she herself never had. But the reality of their mother-daughter relationship is far from what she imagined.
When her second child, Sam, is born, Blythe finds hope in a fresh start—a chance to finally experience the deep, loving bond of motherhood she’s always dreamed of.
However, as her mind begins to betray her and strain her connection with those around her, Blythe’s world begins to unravel. What follows is a devastating reckoning that challenges everything she thought she knew about herself, her children, and the truth.
“Motherhood is like that—there is only the now. The despair of now, the relief of now.”
2. Same River (Mesmo Rio)
Following the famous quote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man“, Elisama Santos adapts this philosophy to motherhood, suggesting that it’s impossible to be the same mother to all children.
“It’s not love that sustains relationships, it’s the way of relating that sustains love.”
Lucas, Marília, and Rita confront the lingering shadows of their childhood traumas and navigate their personal growth as adults while coping with their mother’s declining health. When the siblings reunite after a long-standing family rift, old wounds resurface, and the past becomes as raw and painful as ever.
3. The Primitive Daughter (A Filha Primitiva)
This book will shatter everything you thought motherhood could encompass, revealing how some experiences can be cruel, maddening, consuming, and deeply complex.
Grandmother, mother, and daughter unravel a generational legacy marked by abandonment, faith, skepticism, and long-buried secrets—all within a love-hate relationship steeped in both redemption and violence.
Read with an open heart and mind, because these characters are frighteningly real.
“There was no more umbilical cord, the girl no longer suckled. It was the anger that was being passed on to her, from mother to daughter. It wasn’t the birth, no; it wasn’t the contraction, no; it wasn’t the breastfeeding, no; it was the anger that turned me into a mother.”
4. I’m Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy was crystal clear with the title of her memoir: her relationship with her mother was far from the nurturing, loving image often associated with motherhood.
In stark, honest prose, Jennette recounts the traumatic experiences of growing up under the control of an overbearing mother, while also navigating the pressures of a child acting career on Nickelodeon. Her story sheds light on the darker side of fame, family, and the cost of being a “good daughter” at any expense.
“I take a longer look at the words on her headstone. Brave, kind, loyal, sweet, loving, graceful, strong, thoughtful, funny, genuine, hopeful, playful, insightful, and on and on… Was she, though? Was she any of those things? The words make me angry. I can’t look at them any longer.”
5. The Lost Daughter
Leda’s turbulent past as a mother resurfaces when she encounters Nina, a young mother struggling to care for her daughter during a beach holiday, while her husband enjoys himself with friends.
Their intersecting stories spark a powerful reflection on the reality of motherhood—revealing that it is neither instinctive nor effortless. As the demands of caregiving strip away personal freedom and identity, a quiet remorse begins to grow—one that can blur, and even cross, the boundaries of morality.
“I loved them too much and it seemed to me that love for them would keep me from becoming myself.”
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The article above was edited by Mariana do Patrocínio.
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