Book (also Events & Reviews)
Three Wishes: Our True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood
Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones, Pamela Ferdinand
978-0-316-07906-8
$24.99 ($29.99 in Canada) – Memoir – 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 – 256 pages
Rights: U.S., Canada, and Open Market – Editor: Judy Clain
The uplifting true story of three best friends who transformed their lives by taking motherhood into their own hands.
Carey, Beth, and Pam had succeeded at work but failed at romance, and each resolved to have a baby before time ran out. Just one problem: no men. Carey took the first bold step towards single motherhood, searching anonymous donor banks until she found the perfect match. What she found was not a father in a vial, but a sort of magic potion. She met a man, fell in love, and got pregnant the old-fashioned way. She passed the vials to Beth, and it happened again. Beth met man, Beth got pregnant. Beth passed the vials to Pam, and the magic struck again. There were setbacks and disappointments, but three women became three families, reveling in the shared joy of love, friendship, and never losing hope.
- Nearly half of single American women today consider raising a child on their own. THREE WISHES captures the zeitgeist of a generation who finds success at work easier to achieve than success in love.
- The authors are accomplished journalists and fearless heroines who poise themselves to buck conventional parenthood. Too few stories about modern motherhood include such stalwart friends who take control to create the lives they want.
- This inspirational story will appeal to audiences who flocked to Kelly Corrigan’s The Middle Place (Voice, 2008) and Isabel Gillies’ Happens Every Day (Scribner, 2009).
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones, and Pamela Ferdinand are journalists whose work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post. Much to their delight, they are also moms.
EVENTS:
April 21, 2010: The Today Show
April 27: Highland Park Public Library – 7 p.m.
April 28: WGN News, Chicago – Midday News
The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka – 7 p.m.
April 29: Barbara’s Bookstore, Oak Park – 7 p.m.
May 1: Evanston Public Library – 2 p.m.
May 5: Brookline Booksmith – 7 p.m.
May 6: Brookline Commisson for Women panel discussion
May 23: Chatham Bookstore, NY
June 10: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA – 7 p.m.
June 12-13: Chicago Printers Row Lit Fest
June 19: Glen Ellyn, IL, Book Fest
EXCERPT FROM THREE WISHES:
“Only how to get there stumped me: Do you make love happen or does love happen to you? How much was beyond my control, no matter how many blind dates I went on or wine tastings I signed up for? Was it possible to meet my true love on a seven-minute date, at a clothing optional encounter group, or swing dancing class?
In each other’s down moments, my girlfriends and I reached into the Hat of Hopeful Stories—the coworker who met her husband on the commuter train, the neighbor who had her first child at 44. We pep-talked one another into blind dates on which we were not supposed to mention the two C’s: commitment or (god forbid) children. Stick to quality not quantity, some said. Others disagreed. We weren’t necessarily desperate, but we were determined.”
REVIEWS
“Reading Three Wishes is like being let into the juiciest of confidences. I dare you not to root for these tough and gentle women.” (Jill Eisenstadt, author of From Rockaway and Kiss Out)
“Three Wishes is a true-life sisterhood tale of friendship, love, amazing luck, and sperm. I was drawn into each woman’s life, and their quest for love and motherhood, although not necessarily in that order. A must-read for the 21st century woman on the same journey.” (Alice Domar, PhD, author of Be Happy without Being Perfect and Conquering Infertility)
“Three Wishes is a page-turner—full of twists and turns, great and small—that proves life is still a mystery and nothing, if we want it badly enough, is impossible.” (Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry and Piece of Work)
“Riveting, seriously riveting!…It’s so triumphant, too, in the best possible way.” (Julia Sweeney, author of God Said, Ha! and former Saturday Night Live cast member)
“This braided story—of longing, persistence, plans gone awry, the gifts of good luck—is at its center about love in its many forms. With its magic numbers and precious vials, it might be a fairy tale, were it not, in its details, so bracingly, bravely contemporary and real.” (Elizabeth Graver, author of The Honey Thief and Awake)
