Four Mothers

In the tradition of Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women and Robert Kolker’s Hidden Valley Road, Abigail Leonard's immersive, page-turning reporting follows four women from around the world as they embark on the first year of motherhood

Utterly moving and addictively readable from page one, the book begins with the pregnancies and labor experiences of Anna in Finland, Tsukasa in Japan, Sarah in the U.S., and Chelsea in Kenya. The year that followed was an experience both remarkably unique for each woman, and remarkably universal. Leonard takes readers inside their relationships, families, and interactions with employers, the healthcare system, and the social safety net, weaving in deeply researched background on each country’s history, political priorities, and cultural norms that influence the women’s lives.
 
As debates surrounding paid leave, universal daycare, and national healthcare rage in the US and around the world, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean in the everyday lives of parents. By turns enraging and full of hope, this on-the-ground yet global look at new motherhood today offers readers – especially new or future parents – unprecedented context for the innumerable different ways we could create our family lives, to help us more expansively imagine the possibilities for the future.