Bed Rest

February 13, 2006
By the time she's 28 years old, British-born Quinn "Q" Boothroyd has worked her way through much of "The Modern Woman's List of Things to Do Before Hitting Thirty": a successful career with a New York law firm, check; an American husband she loves, check; and a soon-to-be child whom she likes to think was conceived during passionate, drunken grappling on the kitchen table, check. But for the last three months of her pregnancy, she's put on bed rest, left waiting for visitors, food and, hardest of all, her busy husband. When heavy exposition and the introspection of a self-absorbed protagonist don't weigh down Bilston's debut, written as Q's diary, it does offer a humorous glimpse into a pregnant woman's thoughts. Through her time-out on the sofa, Q questions the checklist and comes to terms with her marriage and herself. She rethinks her uncomfortable relationship with her mother and sisters, and establishes unlikely friendships with her visitors, a co-worker having an affair with a married man, and an elderly Greek neighbor, who involves her in a legal dispute that may jeopardize Q's marriage. Bilston, who spent time on bed rest herself, creates an authentic voice for Q, but her protagonist's housebound existence makes for a sluggish plot.