Becoming a mother is heartwarming, yes. It's also its own mini-apocalypse (exhibit A: the last book on this list), shattering the comfortable reality of everything you knew before. It's no wonder every generation needs its own new group of books to help make sense of both the method and the madness of motherhood. This year's bounty is even more fertile (ahem) than usual, with diverse listens that explore mothering from every angle, from the punchy to the poetic.—Kat, Audible Editor
Product List
  • Motherhood Audiobook By Sheila Heti cover art

    • Motherhood

    • A Novel
    • By: Sheila Heti
    • Narrated by: Sheila Heti
    • Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
    • Release date: 05-01-18
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 199 ratings
    • To Be a Mother, or Not to Be a Mother?
    • Women who reach their mid-30s both childless and able often ask themselves: Should they, or shouldn't they? Slyly uncategorizable writer Sheila Heti takes up the impossibility of this question—until you have a child, how can you know enough about motherhood to decide?—in this meditation on the tension between art and parenting. No matter which side of the fence we fall on, Motherhood is a reminder that we all agonize over our choices, and choosing empathy and our best guess is probably the closest we get to real insight.
  • And Now We Have Everything Audiobook By Meaghan O'Connell cover art

    • And Now We Have Everything

    • By: Meaghan O'Connell
    • Narrated by: Meaghan O'Connell
    • Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
    • Release date: 04-10-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 241 ratings
    • Real (and Hilarious) Talk for New Moms
    • Of course, some people never make a conscious decision to parent. When Meaghan O'Connell accidentally got pregnant in her 20s, she decided to go along for the ride—a fortunate outcome for the many new mothers who will love, and desperately need, this book. An unflinching look at the landmines of contemporary parenthood, from the indignities of pregnancy to rediscovering your post-baby identity, this is the motherhood memoir for a new generation.
  • I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering Audiobook By Janelle Hanchett cover art

    • I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering

    • By: Janelle Hanchett
    • Narrated by: Janelle Hanchett
    • Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
    • Release date: 05-01-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 465 ratings
    • The Renegade Mother's Tale
    • Janelle Hanchett's Twitter bio states "Join me in the fight against helpful parenting advice," a cheeky bit of contrarian-ness that makes me love her beyond measure. Hanchett's witty, relatable candor has always inspired fierce devotion among fans of her Renegade Mothering blog, and her fantastic, self-narrated memoir—a cliche-free tale of addiction, redemption, and coming to terms with the mess of life—is sure to win her an even wider audience.
  • That Kind of Mother Audiobook By Rumaan Alam cover art

    • That Kind of Mother

    • A Novel
    • By: Rumaan Alam
    • Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson
    • Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
    • Release date: 05-08-18
    • Language: English
    • 3 out of 5 stars 145 ratings
    • Plumbing the Depths of Interracial Adoption
    • That Kind of Mother is the story of a white mother who adopts a black baby, written by Rumaan Alam, an author of Bangladeshi descent who is raising two black boys in Brooklyn with his white husband. Thorny issues of race, class, and privilege intersect in this hotly anticipated novel, but Alam handles them with intellect and sensitivity—and the Rich and Pretty writer proves, again, that he's a master of writing from the female perspective.
  • Hey Mom Audiobook By Louie Anderson cover art

    • Hey Mom

    • By: Louie Anderson
    • Narrated by: Louie Anderson
    • Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
    • Release date: 04-03-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 438 ratings
    • The Mother of All Comedic Tributes
    • In a blond bob and makeup, Louie Anderson channels his late mom to comic perfection for the Emmy-winning show Baskets. It's a late-career high for Anderson, and this lovely, hilarious memoir is a fitting tribute to the woman who still inspires him, three decades after her death. In a series of letters to his mother, Anderson delivers intimate and insightful anecdotes and observations as only he can.
  • The Perfect Mother Audiobook By Aimee Molloy cover art

    • The Perfect Mother

    • A Novel
    • By: Aimee Molloy
    • Narrated by: Cristin Milioti
    • Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
    • Release date: 05-01-18
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 2,259 ratings
    • A Twisty Thriller of Modern Motherhood
    • New and expecting moms probably shouldn't delve into this gripping shocker about a group of posh Brooklyn mothers whose girls night out ends with a missing baby—and a parent's worst nightmare. But if you're anything like me, you'll plunge headfirst into the timely, twisty tale . . . and again when it arrives on the big screen, in the Kerry Washington-led film adaptation.
  • Baby Teeth Audiobook By Zoje Stage cover art

    • Baby Teeth

    • A Novel
    • By: Zoje Stage
    • Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
    • Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
    • Release date: 07-17-18
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 4,219 ratings
    • The Scariest Kid on the Block
    • The instant I heard the plot of this terrifying domestic thriller—We Need to Talk About Kevin meets The Omen, but starring a 7-year-old girl who believes she is the reincarnation of a 17th-century French witch—I had as good as traded in a good night's (or is that week's?) sleep and signed up for the ride. Depending on your sensitivity to very creepy children and graphic descriptions of illness that verge on body horror, your mileage may vary, but Stage's knockout prose, complex characters, and masterful tension-building make this the parenting horror story to listen to this summer.
  • The End We Start From Audiobook By Megan Hunter cover art

    • The End We Start From

    • By: Megan Hunter
    • Narrated by: Louise Brealey
    • Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
    • Release date: 11-07-17
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 133 ratings
    • The Poetry of Parenthood
    • To truly prepare for parenting, we sometimes crave more than the nuts and bolts of pregnancy manuals and child-development tomes. Megan Hunter's short, lyrical debut explores the metaphor of birth as personal apocalypse, setting the story of a new mother and child against the backdrop of a flood. Rich in wonder and intensity, this gorgeous listen would make a poetic present for moms of all ages.