Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr - #bookreview

 

She couldn't think about the voicemail. Katherine inhaled sharply. The muscles in her neck clenched. She took another deep breath, willing herself to relax. She wouldn't think about it. Not today. Instead, she thought of Patrick. Patrick, who managed to get to work on time, who kept perfect records for his clients, who never forgot a friend's birthday, but could not, no matter how much she emphasized the importance of it, put the keys in the bowl by the front door.

They needed a second set. They'd had a second set, of course, but Patrick had lost it.

***

TWO WOMEN. ONE BABY. A FIGHT LIKE NO OTHER.

Katherine has everything under control.

After years of struggling to conceive with her partner, Patrick, she finally gives birth to Rose, her IVF miracle child. But she's afraid that Rose may not be her daughter, her pale skin not matching Katherine's own.

pTess never got her happy ending.

Just like Katherine, she was also a hopeful IVF mother, but her daughter, Hanna, was stillborn. Now divorced, broke and stuck in a dead-end job, she's beginning to lose all hope.

But when Rose is ten months old, both women get a call from the fertility clinic. There was a mistake: their eggs were switched.

It will take a custody battle like no other to decide who will get to be Rose's mother – a battle that will push them both to the brink...

This is a story about what it means to be a mother, and the lengths we go to for the people we love.

***

I have not read anything quite like this before and I was absolutely gripped by it.

The babies switched at birth and given to the wrong parents is a familiar trope. However, the author takes this premise but has the eggs switched prior to uterine implantation at a fertility clinic. This was a very interesting take and it forces the reader to consider their own reaction if they were in a similar position.

It also provides for an interesting peek into the world of IVF, and I learnt much about the process in this book.  It made for a fascinating read with the chapters moving from the perspectives of Katherine, the birth mother, and Tess, the biological mother. Their viewpoints were emotional and my heart broke for both of them.

It is a heart-rending and thought provoking novel which has been well written and deals with issues concerning ethics, race and moral dilemma. There is much to unpack in this book and it would lend itself very well to book group discussion.

I highly recommend this excellent novel.

ISBN: 978 1802793321

Publisher:  Welbeck

Formats:  e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages:  432

About the Author:

Bestselling Women's Fiction and Contemporary author Charlene Carr is the youngest of four children and the only girl. Living in a house full of boys taught her to fight for what she wants and to always reach higher (you have to when everyone in your family towers above you).

She spent much of her childhood creating elaborate, multi-faceted storylines for her dolls and reading under the blankets with a flashlight when she was supposed to be asleep.

A bit of a nomad, she’s lived in four countries and seven Canadian provinces. After travelling the globe for several years and working an array of mostly writing related jobs, she decided the time had come to focus exclusively on her true love—crafting stories.

Charlene is a novelist and stay-at-home mom: her two dream jobs. She lives in Nova Scotia, Canada and loves exploring the coastline of her harbour town with her husband and young daughter.