Hannah's Children

The Stories of Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth

By: Catherine Pakaluk

Narrated by: Jaimee Draper

A portrait of America's most interesting yet overlooked women.

In the midst of a historic "birth dearth," why do some 5 percent of American women choose to defy the demographic norm by bearing five or more children? Hannah’s Children is a compelling portrait of these overlooked but fascinating mothers who, like the biblical Hannah, see their children as their purpose, their contribution, and their greatest blessing.

The social scientist Catherine Pakaluk, herself the mother of eight, traveled across the United States and interviewed fifty-five college-educated women who were raising five or more children. Through open-ended questions, she sought to understand who these women are, why and when they chose to have a large family, and what this choice means for them, their families, and the nation.

Hannah’s Children is more than interesting stories of extraordinary women. It presents information that is urgently relevant for the future of American prosperity. Many countries have experimented with aggressively pro-natalist public policies, and all of them have failed. Pakaluk finds that the quantitative methods to which the social sciences limit themselves overlook important questions of meaning and identity in their inquiries into fertility rates. Her book is a pathbreaking foray into questions of purpose, religion, transcendence, healing, and growth—questions that ought to inform economic inquiry in the future.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Catherine Pakaluk (P)2024 Oasis Audio

Life and Mind Changing

I admittedly couldn’t make it past the first chapter when I reserved the physical book from my library but I was so intrigued and found myself already taking notes. SO I jumped on here and started listening. The statistics and informative language was hard to swallow but easy and intriguing to listen to. The stories were the absolute most heartwarming. I have already been on a journey back to my own catholic faith and at 37 I have been deep in thought on how false narratives shaped my life and family choices. I grew up thinking the only way I could feel fulfilled was to be a “boss girl” but in the decade I chased that I was anything but a glass full. Since I’ve had two beautiful boys but in the last two years an overwhelming urge to have at least two more has been strong. My husband and I have both brought up many of the “excuses” discussed and dissected in this book and it has given me the confidence to start praying daily to God if that is his will and to lean into a belief that what is needed will be provided if it so be. Thank you for this wonderful book of stories, thoughts, opinions and the hard facts on why we as mothers can never we replaced, replicated or taken for granted.

A book to make you think, wrestle, cry, laugh, and then act.

A masterful weaving of storytelling and hard data. This is one of the most important books of our time - convicting, validating, illuminating, inspiring. The future thanks you for your work, for bringing us these stories and this vision.

Uplifting and inspiring

I loved the insightful stories of these mothers. It was heartwarming to think of the improvement to our society if more families were like these.

Inspiring and well read

This book changed my perspective on raising children and helped me overcome fears of taking the plunge on that first child. The narrator was engaging and pleasant to listen to. The many stories warmed my heart. Often the stories of family love and relationships brought tears to my eyes. Some parts of the book were more complex and fact filled and required undivided attention to follow. Mostly though it was a narrative of enjoyable interviews and conclusions and similarities gathered from them. I highly recommend this book.

A fascinating look into big families & the women that birth them.

It’s enlightening to hear from a wide range of mothers of large families, on their varied reasons for making countercultural choices.

I was surprised that rising infertility rates were not noted as a possible cause for dwindling birth rates, since this is a huge issue facing many, many women today who would love to have children.