The result of years of research as well as interviewing and questioning experts representing all sides of the issue, the book is nevertheless a deeply personal one, interweaving Ludtke's findings with her own decade-long debate over whether to raise a child on her own. Her accessible approach takes us behind the statistics, framing mothers' vividly told remembrances with current scholarly insights, but never losing sight of the private, everyday details of women's lives. Recognizing that umarried mothers come from widely differing age groups and backgrounds, Ludtke focuses on the two extremes: teenagers and women over the age of thirty-five. While examining their contrasting circumstances, she locates surprising areas of common ground among these women who, regardless of age or income, have chosen to bypass marriage and raise children on their own, in spite of the struggle and the loneliness, in spite of society's harsh judgment.