Her One Regret

By Donna Freitas

Book Overview

From the author of the book club favorite The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano comes a riveting feminist thriller that tackles an unspeakable taboo: regretting motherhood.

When successful Rhode Island real estate agent Lucy Mendoza vanishes, leaving her baby behind in a grocery store parking lot, the news quickly makes national headlines. Lucy's best friend, Michelle, is devastated, and terrified that Lucy's life is at stake. But she knows something that could complicate the police investigation. Lucy had confessed something unspeakable: She regretted becoming a mother, so much that she'd fantasized about faking her own kidnapping. If the police and media were to find out, Lucy would become a monster in public opinion. Michelle is sure Lucy would never abandon her daughter. But could she be wrong? Could Lucy have been so desperate she chose to escape her life?

Donna Freitas has drawn from groundbreaking research to bring readers this unforgettable novel. Her One Regret is at once a pulse-pounding feminist thriller, a moving depiction of the realities of motherhood, and a rich exploration of a subject our culture and society have rendered nearly verboten: the possibility that for some women, motherhood is an unfixable mistake.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1641296380
• ISBN13: 9781641296380
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Soho Crime
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A LOT to unpack!

I picked this book as my book of the month, and once again, another great read from the club. There is so much to unpack in Her One Regret. I will start with the author note in the back - in the early 20s when she started to write they told her not to write about women who didn’t want children, because no one wanted to read about her. I’m so glad she went against the grain. How many couples get married and it’s instantly “when are you going to have kids?” or single females getting hounded by the media or people in their lives with the comment “your biological clock is ticking”….all the meanwhile those people may not understand some don’t want children and that is 100% okay. Or for the fact they want to do life a little bit differently. The expectation is so pushy when it’s really no one’s business. This book is very timely, especially when birth control options, the choice to have an abortion, and women rights are all on the line. Choices are on the line. It needs to be said: it’s okay to want children, it’s okay to not want children, and it’s okay to feel before and after having kids and everything in between. We should not be condemned for our feelings of what we want in life. Some women are made to be mothers and some are not. I empathise with the characters when they talk about wishing to go back to the life before having their baby. I personally never wanted children and mostly for this reason. I wanted to have freedom. I do not think I am missing out on anything. In fact, I work at a school and I’m around kids all day. I am grateful to be able to help teach and impact young lives, all the while being able to go home to a quiet life of doing whatever I want or need to do without interruption. I loved the woven layout of the book and the way the characters chapters flowed consistently throughout and how everyone ended up in the same world. The female character’s feelings really show how hard it is and how carefree a lot of men’s worlds really are. I think women are taken advantage of to take care of the baby and house without any second thought of what it could be doing to them mentally—without a break—day in and day out. (Women are almost expected to without any breath of saying no.) It is almost as if the world eliminates a woman when she is with child. Suddenly, she is mother and she doesn’t have a life without that child. She isn’t an individual anymore, and that is sad. You shouldn’t have to give up your life to give a life, you just have to make room. I think Her One Regret is such an important book to read, and it needs to land into every hand of a woman, especially those who are hurting and those who are on the fence about everything.