7 Books That Weigh the Choice of Motherhood

When I began trying to get pregnant, I didn’t know exactly why I wanted to have a child, but I knew my parents had something to do with the desire. Not directly: They never told me I should have children and would never have pressured me into making a decision either way. I felt their influence in terms of heritage. How did my parents’ choice to become parents—and my perceived effect of that choice on their lives—seep into my decision making? How did the African-American, Jamaican, Lebanese, and Haitian cultures they grew up in influence their decision and mine? 

Even though the choice to have children is often framed as one that involves one or two people, this ignores the truth that families and cultures often influence the decision. I wanted to explore this in my multigenerational novel, Read Entire Article