The Offering

April 1, 2013
A novel that concerns the moral issues surrounding gestational surrogacy. The narrator, Amanda, survived an explosive car crash that killed her father when she was 5. She maintains a somewhat distant relationship with her mother but is happily married to her husband, Gideon, who's from a warm and loving Cuban family. Gideon is a soldier who is frequently sent around the world to defuse dangerous situations. Amanda and Gideon are blessed with a gifted daughter. In order to cover the expense of a special school for their offspring, Amanda decides to become a gestational surrogate for an agency that matches her with a wealthy French couple. She decides to do this since it pays well and would allow her and Gideon to start a business and have more children of their own once he is finished with his military service. A cousin-in-law, who is herself unable to have a child and plans to adopt, questions this choice. There are conversations about the morality of harvesting eggs for surrogate gestation when there are so many orphaned children in the world. There are conversations about the fact that many harvested and fertilized eggs do not survive, which leads to questions of when life begins. Things take a turn in the plot when Gideon is killed in the line of duty shortly before Amanda gives birth to what is supposed to be the French couple's child. Difficult issues are addressed and emotional gaps are bridged in a story about a controversial subject.

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