Surrogate

By Susan Spindler, Hachette

London artist Lauren and husband Dan have spent £30,000 and five years trying to have a baby. Planning a surprise party for Lauren’s mum Ruth’s 54th birthday, they fly younger sister Alex over from San Francisco for a party, where they hand out baby scans as gifts. Ten days later, Lauren suffers her sixth miscarriage. This is the start of a fearless novel. Alex offers to carry a baby, but US rules dictate you must have one good pregnancy and permanent residency. Straight-talker Ruth decides to be the “incubator”. So begins a raft of physical procedures and counselling. What would you do if the baby had an abnormality? Terminate, says Ruth. So the family relations start to unravel. Doesn’t she understand they would do anything for any child?

But there is a bigger cloud looming in this brilliantly conceived book. Ruth’s barrister husband, Adam, still hasn’t been told that she’s had her “uterus commissioned” and she must have his signature on a slew of legal documents. Gut-wrenching.