Adams, A. E., 1994. Reproducing the Womb: Images of Childbirth in Science, Feminist Theory and Literature. New York: Cornell University Press.

A fascinating exploration of the way in which the figure of the mother and images of childbearing are presented as non-entities or as an abstract function. Includes discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Bassin, D., Honey, M., & Kaplan, M. eds., 1994. Representations of Motherhood. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Feminist views of the maternal as represented by the figure of the mother.

Chodorow, N., 1978. The Reproduction of Mothering. Berkeley: University of California Press.

A seminal text that explores motherhood from a psychoanalytic and feminist perspective.

Dinnerstein, D., 1987. The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World. London: The Women’s Press.

A classic of feminist and psychoanalytic thought. Dinnerstein looks at the process of collusion between men and women in order to main women in the role of mother.

Davidson, C. N. & Broner, E. M. eds., 1980. The Lost Tradition: Mothers and Daughters in Literature. New York: Frederick Ungar.

An insightful exploration of the mother-daughter bond in literature. Includes significant discussion on Doris Lessing.

Giorgio, A. ed., 2002. Writing Mothers and Daughters: Renegotiating the Mother in Western Europe Narratives by Women. Oxford: Berghenn Books.

An excellent comparative analysis of the mother-daughter bond in a range of international writing.

Hirsch, M., 1989. The Mother/Daughter Plot: Narrative, Psychoanalysis, Feminism. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

An excellent text concerning the construction of femininity in the discourses of motherhood. Includes discussion on Adrienne Rich, Margaret Atwood, Marguerite Duras, Christa Wolf, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

Nasta, S. ed., 1991. Motherlands: Black Women’s Writing from Africa, the Carribean and South Asia. London: The Women’s Press.

A critical anthology examining the mythology of motherhood in post-colonial literature. Includes essays on Anita Desai and Jean Rhys.

Owen Weeks, A., 2000. “Figuring the mother in Contemporary Irish Fiction” In Harte, L., and Parker, M. eds., Contemporary Irish Fiction: Themes, Tropes and Theories, 2000, pp.100-124. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

An important essay that looks at the figure of the mother in the Irish situation and considers her silence.