Risking It All

August 1, 2017
Even the best of marriages have their tipping points.Marcia and Jeff Naiman have a loving marriage, but after three years of trying to conceive, Marcia is still not pregnant. When taking temperatures and charting ovulation doesn't work, Marcia steps up the game, but even the expensive in-vitro procedure that Jeff eventually agrees to is fruitless. With renewed determination, Marcia researches surrogacy. Her sheer determination and her promise to have no relationship with the surrogate after the child is born persuade Jeff to agree to the process despite misgivings. The seeds of a good marriage going bad are sown. Initially neither Marcia nor Jeff understands what's happening; each assumes that when their child is born things will get back to normal. But rather than improving, the marriage goes into a death spiral. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as expected, and a set of unusual circumstances compounds the stress of an already fraught situation. Marcia and Jeff are forced to look deeply into themselves to determine what really matters to them and ultimately to see the other from the inside out...and decide if even that is enough to sustain their marriage. Both Marcia and Jeff are sympathetic characters, and Darnton (The Perfect Mother, 2014, etc.) makes clear the reasons for their actions, reactions, decisions, and choices. Thoughtfully written and thoroughly engaging--a tale of compromise, tough decisions...and love.

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August 1, 2017
Marcia and Jeff had a happy marriage, but Marcia felt their family would never be complete without a child. She and Jeff researched a multitude of options after IVF failed, finally landing on surrogacy. After weighing their moral, ethical, and financial opinions on family planning, Marcia and Jeff met Eve. A kind woman, Eve is clear-eyed and pragmatic about the responsibilities of surrogacy. Though Eve had a relatively easy pregnancy, unexpected complications arise during the delivery, and Marcia and Jeff are forced to make choices they never expected. Weighing a sudden tragedy against the gift of new life, the couple is thrown into an entirely new family dynamic. They work together to make the most of it, but they soon feel their foundation cracking. Darnton doesn't shy away from the toughest parts of parenting, using one family's unusual circumstances to explore universal questions: what does it means to be a wife and a mother, a husband and a father? Fans of Jodi Picoult and Janelle Brown will enjoy this poignant and thought-provoking novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)