Book­stores are filled with month-by-month preg­nan­cy man­u­als, but the shelves are vir­tu­al­ly emp­ty of art­ful, enter­tain­ing, unvar­nished accounts of labor and deliv­ery are the sto­ries that women crave most. In Labor Day, cel­e­brat­ed Jew­ish authors includ­ing Dani Shapiro, Jen­nifer Gilmore, Joan­na Rakoff, Hei­di Pit­lor, Amy Her­zog and many oth­ers, along with lumi­nar­ies like Cheryl Strayed and Julia Glass, tell their hilar­i­ous, har­row­ing, total­ly true tales of child­birth in the twen­ty-first cen­tu­ry. From hos­pi­tal births to a birth in the back of a car, from sched­uled C‑sections to water births at home, these writ­ers explore the choic­es and chal­lenges fac­ing women today as they pre­pare for and reflect on the most trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ence of their lives. Hailed by May­im Bia­lik as a tremen­dous­ly var­ied, hon­est, and beau­ti­ful set of sto­ries to learn from and grow with, Labor Day will have you laugh­ing, weep­ing, squirm­ing, groan­ing (per­haps in recog­ni­tion), and undoubt­ed­ly gasp­ing with sur­prise. A bold con­ver­sa­tion-starter for explor­ing both unique­ly Jew­ish and also uni­ver­sal ques­tions of moth­er­hood, med­i­cine, and wom­en’s lives.