The Mothers
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
What if you gave birth to someone else's child? A gripping family drama inspired by a real-life case of an IVF laboratory mix-up.
Two couples. One baby. An unimaginable choice.
What if the baby you gave birth to belonged to someone else?
Grace and Dan Arden are in their forties and have been on the IVF treadmill since the day they got married. Six attempts have yielded no results and with each failure a little piece of their hope dies.
Priya Laghari and her husband Nick Archer are being treated at the same fertility clinic, and while they don't face the same time pressure as the Ardens, the younger couple have their own problems.
Priya is booked for her next IVF cycle the same day that Grace goes in for her final, last-chance embryo transfer. Two weeks later, both women get their results.
A year on, angry and heartbroken, one of the women learns her embryo was implanted in the other's uterus and must make a devastating choice: live a childless life knowing her son is being raised by strangers or seek custody of a baby who has been nurtured and loved by another couple.
'The Mothers beautifully captures the desperation for a baby and the emotional roller-coaster of IVF . . . In the style of Jodi Picoult, it's impossible to choose sides. These characters and their heart-wrenching dilemma will follow you off the page and have you asking what would you do? An intriguing, thought-provoking novel.' - Petronella McGovern, bestselling author of Six Minutes
'Engagingly and unflinchingly told, Gannon's new novel, The Mothers, is the story of every parent's worst nightmare. It is that novel that makes you muse on the most difficult of questions ... What makes a mother? And can you ever un-become one? Like all my favourite books, The Mothers is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and it leaves you with a lot to think about after you turn the final page. I sobbed my way through this wonderful book.' - Sally Hepworth, bestselling author of The Mother-in-Law
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The riveting latest from Gannon (Chasing Chris Campbell) centers on a family drama inspired by a real-life in vitro fertilization mix-up. Grace and Dan Arden are in their mid-40s and about to embark on their seventh round of IVF. Facing emotional burnout, Grace is starting to suffer stress-related complications at her job. Meanwhile, Priya and Nick Archer have finally saved enough money to begin the IVF process after years of trying to conceive. But soon after starting the program, Priya discovers Nick has been sexting with women he meets online. As both Grace and Priya decide to forge ahead with embryo implantation, their appointments are scheduled for the same day at the same clinic. While things go smoothly for Grace, Priya's treatments prove unsuccessful, and after Grace gives birth to a baby boy whose skin color is darker than either parent, she and Dan suspect the wrong embryo had been implanted yet decide to fight to keep their son even though he is biologically Priya's. Priya, faced with the possibility other parents could raise her biological son, takes every legal recourse to gain custody of the boy. Gannon delivers an emotional punch with well-developed characters and an unapologetic look at infertility, marital struggles, and the parental rights issues that have arisen due to the prevalence of fertility treatment options. This heart-wrenching novel is hard to put down.
