*An Amazon Best Nonfiction Book of 2025*
*Featured on PBS NewsHour* *The Sunday Times "Book of the Week"* “Leonard is a masterly reporter. The four women share intimate details of their shifting post-baby lives, which read like gripping fiction… It’s public interest journalism at its best—powerful human stories peppered with well-chosen facts… Leonard elegantly makes a compelling case for a fairer society.” - The Sunday Times (London) "Incredibly well reported...this intimate, page-turning portrait of the vastly different lives of four mothers around the world will stir big feelings--and spark much-needed conversations about parenthood and caregiving." - Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor "A piercing and poignant debut... in lithe, captivating prose. This is an enthralling and kaleidoscopic view of modern motherhood." - Publishers Weekly, *STARRED Review* "These intriguing, real-life examples provide strong testimony for the need to take better care of our newest and most vulnerable fellow humans." - Booklist, *STARRED Review* "Four Mothers provides a deeply personal window into how policy shapes parents’ lives." - The Guardian "A deeply reported interrogation of the social, emotional and physical toll of parenthood...A powerful look at the hard, often lonely work of creating and raising the next generation." - Ms. Magazine "Leonard blends the personal and political in her astute look at how motherhood is supported (or not) in four countries. Its case studies serve as a potent directive." - New Pages "A fascinating first-year account of others’ support systems, parental leave, social issues, personal thoughts, and uplifting stories." - The Philadelphia Tribune “This captivating book by author Abigail Leonard... delves into universal motherhood themes and the potential of family-friendly policies to alleviate daily stressors for parents worldwide.” - Morning Blend “A personal and empathetic portrait of early motherhood around the world.” - Cambridge Day "[A] fascinating book." - U.S. News and World Report |
"I could not put this book down. Four Mothers is a masterfully reported work of narrative nonfiction, tracing the journeys of four remarkable women. Abigail Leonard deftly weaves together these astonishing stories of heartbreak, hope, sacrifice, and love. Grounded in deep research and reporting, she skillfully reveals the hidden forces and systems that shape modern motherhood. This book will make you step back and consider your own experiences of mothering and being mothered, how similar or different it all may have been in another place, at another time, in another body."
- Erika Hayasaki, author of Somewhere Sisters “With all the gifts of a novelist, reporter Abigail Leonard chronicles the lives of women around the world during their first year of motherhood, to make you feel their joy, their fear, their exhaustion, and their fierce love for their children. This is real motherhood on the page, bolstered by rigorous research to explain why our current systems have failed families and offer insights for a brighter future.” - Jo Piazza, bestselling author of How to Be Married "Four Mothers shows how trials of modern parenting are complicated by so much more than gender norms, familial expectations, or individual finances. This deeply personal look at women worldwide grappling with the best and worst moments of their first year is eye-opening and cathartic. It is a love letter to parents and a clarion call for better policy.” – Eve Rodsky, New York Times-bestselling author of Fair Play "Abigail Leonard's Four Mothers is the exquisitely reported and intensely readable story of how women from four corners of the world navigate early parenthood. Despite vastly different social systems and relationships, the strains and joys of motherhood are similar across cultures and familiar to anyone who is a parent. Leonard paints compelling portraits of each woman, her partner and her world, and I needed to know how everything would turn out. Once I started Four Mothers I could not put it down. " - Darcy Lockman, author of All the Rage "Four Mothers is an absorbing, moving, and beautifully composed exploration of motherhood and mothering across the world. Through her intimate and tenderly observed portraits of the lives and emotions of four different mothers, Abigail Leonard positions motherhood as a lens through which to examine profound questions around gender, identity, community, and care. A gripping, vital, and utterly compelling book." - Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women |
Abigail Leonard is an international reporter and news producer, previously based in Tokyo, where she was a frequent contributor to NPR, Time Magazine, and New York Times video. Before moving to Japan, she was a staff producer for PBS, ABC and Al Jazeera America. Her reporting focuses on issues that impact women, including the Japanese MeToo movement; Japanese “salary-women”; caregiver spouses of injured veterans; and women who give birth in private prisons. Her work has earned a National Headliner Award, an Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, an Overseas Press Club Award, and a James Beard Media Award Nomination. She now lives in Washington DC with her husband and three children.
More about Four Mothers
In the tradition of Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women and Robert Kolker’s Hidden Valley Road, Abigail Leonard’s immersive, page-turning narrative follows four women from around the world as they embark on the transformative first year of motherhood.
Tsukasa in Japan grapples with memories of a difficult childhood as she tries to chart a new, healthier path for her own daughter while balancing onerous cultural expectations. Chelsea in Kenya endures a devastating loss just before she gives birth and finds that without the traditional support of previous generations, motherhood can be grueling – but it can also provide emotional healing. Anna in Finland navigates a complicated relationship with her child’s father, but the country’s robust family policies allow her to still pursue the kind of parenthood that she envisioned. Sarah in the US leaves the religious community that raised her in order to create a less traditional family of her own, only to find she’s largely confronting motherhood alone.
Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Leonard interweaves these stories with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean for parents on the ground—and considers what modern families really want.
Four Mothers endnotes here.
Tsukasa in Japan grapples with memories of a difficult childhood as she tries to chart a new, healthier path for her own daughter while balancing onerous cultural expectations. Chelsea in Kenya endures a devastating loss just before she gives birth and finds that without the traditional support of previous generations, motherhood can be grueling – but it can also provide emotional healing. Anna in Finland navigates a complicated relationship with her child’s father, but the country’s robust family policies allow her to still pursue the kind of parenthood that she envisioned. Sarah in the US leaves the religious community that raised her in order to create a less traditional family of her own, only to find she’s largely confronting motherhood alone.
Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Leonard interweaves these stories with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean for parents on the ground—and considers what modern families really want.
Four Mothers endnotes here.