The Mother: A Graphic Memoir

A raw and honest, harrowing and humorous journey into the dualities of modern motherhood in graphic memoir form.

New Yorker cartoonist Rachel Deutsch desperately wanted a baby, yet she was fearful of actually being pregnant and having one. She lurched into a new identity and then missed her old one. She loved her new baby fiercely, but yearned for her previous relationship with her partner, as sleepless nights revealed the cracks below the surface of their relationship.

Funny, provocative, visually striking and unabashedly candid, The Mother offers empathy and laughs to new and seasoned parents, encouraging readers to embrace the unexpected depths of feeling, wildness, weirdness and love that comes with the territory.

“I laugh-sobbed my way through The Mother, so loudly my children came to check on me. Rachel Deutsch’s drawings are tender and absurd, capturing the total joy and humiliation of living in a body that distends and deflates to create another body. What I love most, though, is the truth Deutsch lays beautifully bare: that becoming a mother exposes all the vulnerabilities of childhood, requiring us to parent ourselves, too.”

“Equal parts moving, funny, sad, and poignant, this book feels like a deep conversation with a wonderfully smart, open friend (who also has a fabulously creative brain and a very unique perspective). Rachel’s witty metaphors and expressive drawings made me laugh and feel less alone in the weirdness and discomfort that is being a human being and a mother. I can’t wait for other moms to read this book—I’m sure they’ll devour it just like I did!”

“This is a truly beautiful and special book. I laughed, and I cried.”

“A hilarious and honest tale of navigating the road to parenthood and readjusting to the new baby life!”

“(S)he captures both the absurdity and the wonder of parenthood.”

“Rachel Deutsch dazzles in The Mother, giving us the very specific story of her matrescence, but somehow making it universal to all mothers. It is at once hilarious, heartbreaking, weird, and wonderful—capturing the delicate high-wire act of becoming a mom without losing yourself. Honest, profound, and slightly unhinged: this is new motherhood on full display.”

“Oh how I loved this. Profound, candid and wonderfully witty, The Mother is a tender self-reflection about the tumbling journey through early motherhood. You will find yourself on every page. This is the motherhood companion we need.”