The path to parenthood is different for everyone - filled with hope, uncertainty, and, at times, deep challenges. Whether you're exploring conception, navigating fertility treatments, considering alternative paths to parenthood, or simply looking for guidance and support, books can offer invaluable knowledge, comfort, and perspective.

In this curated selection, we highlight some of the most insightful books on fertility, spanning personal memoirs, expert medical guides, and compassionate explorations of the emotional side of the journey. From scientific explanations of reproductive health to real-life stories of resilience, these books provide information, reassurance, and inspiration for anyone on the road to building a family. Infertility can be a lonely journey. One in every six couples will struggle to conceive but, despite this, many don't feel comfortable talking openly about their experiences and sharing what they are going through. As a result, they feel isolated and alone.

Medical and practical guides about fertility:

ITV This Morning's GP Dr Nighat Arif brings you the essential guide to female health from puberty to menopause in Fertility, Pregnancy and Female Health.

This book tackles important topics including planning for pregnancy, including specific advice for LGBTQ+ parents; how pregnancy affects your body and complications to know about, facing infertility and your options, including medicine to improve fertility and assisted conception. And it also features health concerns including endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome and gynaecological cancers.

Whether you are trying for a baby now or preparing for a family in future, The Fertility Book is the no-nonsense guide you need to help you to optimize your chances of a healthy pregnancy. Dr Raj Mathur, Chair of the British Fertility Society comments, “Everyone concerned about their fertility should read this book.”

World-renowned fertility consultant Adam Balen and reproductive biologist Grace Dugdale dispel the myths in this comprehensive guide to reproductive health, explaining in easy-to-understand terms the genetic and lifestyle factors at play. They take an honest look at the evidence for both conventional and alternative approaches, equipping you with powerful tools to improve your chances of a natural conception and an understanding of how to create the best environment for a healthy pregnancy. If you do decide to seek help through assisted conception, this book will be with you every step of the way, explaining what treatments are available and how to approach them, so that you can come to an informed decision about what is right for you.

Eating well for fertility:

Anyone who's been on a fertility journey knows how deeply it touches your life in deeply personal ways. The sadness. The weight. The desperation. It's all-consuming. Heart-breaking. And takes its toll. From the compassionate pen of a practising dietician comes The Plant-Based Dietitian's Guide to Fertility, an accessible guidebook to help you restore or optimise your fertility.

Rigorously researched, this helps you take control of some of the limiting factors which can negatively impact the journey towards parenthood.

Covering the six pillars of lifestyle medicine (nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, relationships and avoidance of toxic substances), the book acknowledges that all of these areas need attention, and focusing on them will help you encourage positive behaviour change. Nutrition is after all, only one piece of the puzzle.

This book is a blueprint for healthier living to support and empower couples to embrace the benefits of a plant-based diet and many more healthy habits. Through mythbusting, and with so many self-help interventions, there is tons of advice, and even recipes too! There are of course no guarantees but this is a must-read filled with practical steps that may help you if you are trying to conceive or are on your own fertility journey.

Personal memoirs and emotional support: 

Liberty Mills was told at age 43 that she had a 0.7% chance of having another baby with her own eggs - and that was with the assistance of IVF. She and her partner decided to continue their fertility journey with the help of integrative medicine. After a lifestyle overhaul, she conceived her beautiful daughter naturally, and gave birth two weeks before her 45th birthday. Liberty now works as a Certified Integrative Health and Nutrition Coach helping to create bespoke programmes for both couples and single people hoping to conceive. 360 Fertility is a holistic and practical guide to optimising fertility for both men and women where Liberty shares everything she has learned on her own journey and the knowledge she shares with her clients.

The Infertile Midwife by Sophie Martin is an insightful, moving memoir, capturing life working as a midwife in a busy NHS hospital at the same time as dealing with experiences of infertility, IVF and loss.

This is a deeply personal, moving account of chasing something that you want so desperately. It also offers a much-needed look at how society treats infertility - from the language we use to the small talk we make - and the ways in which we can all do more to make things better for hopeful parents. With great warmth and honesty, Martin shares her experiences of the bursts of hope and moments of great loss, but also the humour, love and joy that can be found in even the darkest places.

Fertility is one of the major health and wellbeing issues for modern women, and Emma Cannon's Total Fertility offers clear, warm and supportive advice to help you on your own unique fertility journey. This book will help you get pregnant now, whether you are going for natural or assisted conception, and also focus on fertility preservation to help you stay fertile longer so you can get pregnant in the future.

Part-memoir, part scientific exploration about Fertility:

After losing four pregnancies with no obvious cause, Jennie Agg set out to understand why miscarriage remains such a profoundly misunderstood, under-researched and under-acknowledged experience. Part-memoir, part-scientific investigation, Life, Almost documents Agg's path to motherhood and her search for answers. Tracing each tentative step of her fifth pregnancy - as her body becomes a creature she does not wish to spook - Agg dismantles the myths that we unquestioningly accept about our reproductive lives:

Drawing on pioneering research and interviews with world-leading experts, this is a ground-breaking book that will change how you think about miscarriage, and a moving reflection on grief and love at the edge of life as we understand it.

Share your fertility story:

In other news HarperCollins recently announced the acquisition of Audrey Ward’s The Waiting Room, for which people can submit their stories – including anonymously – via the official website. The Waiting Room will be published in hardback, audiobook and e-book on 23rd April 2026.

The synopsis states, "With one in six couples globally struggling with infertility, we’re all aware that the path to parenthood can often be far from straightforward, yet the silence surrounding these issues can make it feel like a road travelled alone. It’s often only when we are collectively brave enough to share our experiences that it becomes clear how common complications in starting a family can be."