Non-Motherhood and the Narrative of the Self in Nuria Labari's The Best Mother of the World

In her novel The Best Mother in the World (La mejor madre del mundo, 2019) contemporary Spanish writer and journalist Nuria Labari presents both an intimate and a panoramic view of infertility, assisted reproduction, motherhood, and abortion. Her protagonist, a young middle-class woman living in Barcelona, narrates her story of becoming a mother in the first person, starting from an initial lack of desire to become a mother to a newly discovered longing to become one and, finally, the decision to abort her third, unexpected pregnancy. The Best Mother in the World presents a socio-political and critical reading of non-motherhood: it discusses the economic aspects of becoming a mother, the societal pressure, and the hypocrisy of medical discourse. Labari conceptualizes motherhood as a void that every woman must negotiate at some point in her life and which impacts her identity. The author challenges established discourses surrounding motherhood and non-motherhood by emphasizing the closeness of these two experiences. Therefore, motherhood and non-motherhood are portrayed as complex, dynamic, and ever-evolving phenomena rather than pre-conceptualized experiences.