Pamela Ferdinand

And the paperback is out!

Pamela — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:34:31 +0000

From Amazon.com (but also ask your independent bookseller!):

Chicago Writers Association: “Three Wishes” Best Traditional Nonfiction Book of Year

Pamela — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:31:56 +0000

Back to Entertainment : Books 20 Books About the Enduring Bonds of Friendship

Pamela — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:27:11 +0000

We made the More.com list of memoirs and biographies about the power of friendship: http://www.more.com/friendship-memoirs

Windy City Writers Association interview

Pamela — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:25:44 +0000

A Journey from Motherhood to Authorship

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012 AT 12:24PM

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of four feature profiles by Meghan Owen about the winning authors of the Chicago Writers Association’s first Book of the Year Awards, to be presented at 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14, at The Book Cellar, 4736-38 Lincoln Ave., Chicago.

By Meghan Owen

Three Wishes: Our True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood tells the story of three women – Pamela Ferdinand, Beth Jones and Carey Goldberg – and their intersecting journey to become mothers. Winner of the Chicago Writers Association’s traditional non-fiction Book of the Year Award, Three Wishes captivates in many ways. But its greatest achievement is the manner in which it honestly details the path these three successful women took and how one by one, they decided to use anyonymous sperm to become single mothers only to then find love.

Once the three coauthors shared the collective experience of losing love, finding a sperm donor and then finding love again, they came together to write Three Wishes. All three women are journalists whose work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post, so the writing of this book was both a familiar and strange terrain.

The coauthors’ friends encouraged them to write about their shared experience, and they listened. It wasn’t much of a leap to begin the project, said Jones. “We’re all writers.”

Ferdinand confirmed how the book came about, noting that whenever she told others the story they would respond, “The lucky sperm! You have to write about that.”

Writing a book with three authors living in different parts of the country went more smoothly than one might think, Ferdinand said, because the three of them all were supportive of each other. They each began by composing several chapters and then brought their work to one another in order to build the story into a cohesive flow. The trio would even take retreats so that they could sit down and help each other remember certain events and weave the whole story into a complete tapestry.

Even after the collaboration of Three Wishes, the authors find that they are still forging bonds with women who have had similar experiences. “It was heartening to have people, especially other women, share the intimate details of their lives with me after reading the book,” Ferdinand said.

Ferdinand, who lives in Evanston and teaches journalism at DePaul University, said that motherhood has not dramatically altered her career path, though she no longer takes on projects that take her away from home for prolonged periods.

Writing a story that sprung from her own life was a new and rewarding experience, Ferdinand said. While she remains passionate about journalism, she had “always dreamed” of writing a book. That the book was about her own life made it more of a personal challenge.

While she misses the East Coast, especially her coauthors, Ferdinand is happy to be back home in Chicago. “Being in Chicago has been a really terrific experience,” she said. “We moved here a little over three years ago to be closer to my family…and it’s been nice to be back on my home turf and among such talented artists and writers who are so engaged and excited by this area’s cultural richness, its literary roots and future potential. It inspires me.”

Three Wishes, Three Surprise Endings | New Hampshire Public Radio – nhpr.org

Pamela — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:23:30 +0000

An interview from Virginia Prescott’s wonderful show….

http://bit.ly/Azev0E

“A perfect girlie-page turner” — The London Evening Standard

Pamela — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:35:26 +0000

Turkey baster lit: is this the new chick lit?

Jackie Annesley

12 May 2011

She chose his sperm because his exam scores were better than hers. Donor 8282 was also 6ft 5in tall, blond and blue-eyed. So far, so clichéd.

But what happened when 39-year-old New York Times writer Carey Goldberg ordered eight of his vials at $175 a pop is an extraordinary true story of our times. It charts the lives of three high-flying friends – all journalists and all members of the “I can’t believe it – I forgot to have a baby” generation. But being scarily intelligent East Coast go-getters, they don’t let a lifetime of failed relationships stand in the way of motherhood.

The penny drops for Carey when she overhears her scientist boyfriend tell a colleague he was looking for “somebody who really attracted me”.

Oops. That was enough to send her marching into the arms of donor 8282, while continuing to try her luck on a dating website, where she quickly comes across and falls in love with Sprax, who, despite his unfortunate name, loves Mandelstam’s poetry and is an outdoors adrenaline junkie.

We then get introduced to Carey’s friend Beth Jones. After six years of marriage to a complete prat called Russell, she arrives home one night to be told: “I want a divorce and I don’t want to talk about it.” Russell simply hands her a sheet of paper listing the pros and cons of their marriage, including “sex not satisfying” and “incompatible spare-time activities”. American men – don’t you love their self-obsessed honesty?

Fortunately Beth, who teaches at Harvard, lands a divorce settlement worth $10 million. At 37, she is a rich women who only wants what money can’t easily buy – a baby. So Carey, who has managed to persuade Sprax to be a father if not a husband, offers Beth the vials she no longer needs.

On then to Pam, the award-winning Washington Post journalist who recently met Carey at a cemetery tour of New England Spiritualists (is it any wonder these women are childless?). Most of the men she knows through work are editors or criminals, so she resorts to a multitude of losers on JDate.com before meeting Adam, “a nice Jewish boy” who turns out to be not so nice. One day she finds a note he’s written to himself saying: “Pam may not be the most beautiful girl but she has a good heart.” Adam gets the push and you can guess where the increasingly broody Pam is heading.

Three Wishes is a perfect girlie page-turner for Londoners with loud biological clocks, packed with hilarious and tragic anecdotes, plus lots of gynaecological detail. A big hit in America, the film rights have been sold to the company that made The Kids Are Alright, the lesbian film starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore.

“Turkey basters” could well become a new film and literary genre but I was left wondering what became of Donor 8282 and his nine children. Now that’s a truly great real life story waiting to be written.

The Daily Mail (UK)

Pamela — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:58:54 +0000

Our date with donor 8282: Could donated sperm be the answer to three wannabe mothers?

By Pamela Ferdinand

Last updated at 8:00 PM on 7th May 2011

Unlucky in love, Pamela Ferdinand and her friends Carey and Beth all longed to become mothers. But could donated sperm prove the answer to their prayers – or would fate have other plans?

Patrick and I drove across the US in a whirlwind romance. Then he slept with my university housemate and denied

I had ever been his girlfriend. James – he of the multiple guitars and no pay packet – declared his love, then moved 600 miles away. Adam gave me the key to his flat, wrapped with a ribbon, said he wanted to marry me, and changed his mind a few months later.

I was 37 and wanted a baby. Clearly, things were not going to plan. My strategy for Getting a Life had morphed into Racing the Biological Clock. But I didn’t have to look far to see what was still possible.

My close friend Carey, a fellow journalist, was lucky at work and unlucky at love. Like me, she was better at navigating hurricanes and crime scenes than blind dates. Single and on the brink of 40, she decided to take motherhood into her own hands and bought eight vials of anonymous donor sperm through a fertility clinic. It was biological midnight, she concluded. Time to give up on romance and sign up for nappies before it was too late. Sod marriage.

Yet what Carey found with Donor 8282 was not a father in a vial, but a sort of magic potion. No sooner had she ordered the sperm than she met a towering mountaineer named Sprax online. Their first date took place on the very day the vials arrived at her clinic, followed by a second date, and a third. Weeks passed.

‘He knows I’m going to try to have a baby, and he’s OK with it,’ she told me one night.

‘You are? He is?’ I asked. ‘What do you mean, try to have a baby? With him?’ I sensed relief and purpose in Carey. She had in essence met two men, each with their own promise. The urgency that so many of us experienced in our desire to make a new relationship work so we could have children was largely absent in her now. ‘You know,’ I said, ‘it seems like Sprax and Donor 8282 are oddly similar: tall, fair, intellectual science and technology guys.’

‘You’re right!’ she gasped.

‘So,’ I ventured, ‘you’ll see which one takes first?’ We laughed. ‘Yes, I guess it comes down to that.’

Sprax eventually took, despite hurdles that made some of us wonder if men are, in fact, genetically programmed to avoid commitment. When Carey became pregnant by him and had their daughter, eight vials of donor sperm remained in the clinic freezer like a carton of UHT milk – you only use it when you run out of the fresh stuff.

My friend Beth, it turned out, needed some luck. More precisely, her heel of a husband had left her for his 20-something personal trainer when she expected to start a family. Beth had barely entered their flat on a cold winter’s night when Russell offered her a scotch, asked for a divorce, and handed her a sheet of paper with two columns listing the positives and negatives of their marriage. Under the heading ‘Minuses of my Marriage’ he’d listed ‘different personal interests’, ‘sex not fully satisfying’ and ‘incompatible spare-time activities’. Under ‘Pluses of my Marriage’ was ‘excellent senses of humour’, ‘both physically and emotionally capable’ and ‘we have interesting jobs’. Then he ushered her to the fridge, newly stocked with gourmet food. ‘I got all the things you like, even the tangerine juice, and the shop doesn’t always have that,’ he said. His hand moved across the shelves like a game-show host displaying prizes.

‘What am I supposed to do with all this?’ Beth asked. ‘This isn’t what I want.’ It was absolution via smoked salmon and champagne.

One therapist and divorce lawyer later, and Beth was on her own. My glamorous friend, with her stylish cropped hair and toned legs, took it all heartbreakingly in her stride. She got a tattoo, learned how to ice climb, and had exciting and shallow flings, making her friends wonder whether singleton life was not, in fact, underrated and perhaps a more highly evolved state of being. Yet for all the fun, she wanted a child and had thoughtfully considered single motherhood, its responsibilities and challenges. Her time, too, was running out.

My strategy for Getting a Life had morphed into Racing the Biological Clock

Beth asked several male friends if they would be interested in parenting a child (as one does!), but there were no takers, so she began scanning sperm donor registries for the perfect match. The choices were overwhelming. I took it upon myself to do some matchmaking: Carey, meet Beth. Beth, meet Carey.

Donor 8282 didn’t meet Beth’s criteria. She wanted dark hair and blue eyes; he was blond. She wanted tall, but not six feet five. But Beth liked Carey, and Carey liked 8282… Carey offered the vials, and Beth accepted. And as if Paul Daniels was shuffling the card deck of our lives, magic struck again.

Soon after taking ownership of the donor sperm, Beth went on an ice-climbing trip and met Phil, with a rakish wool cap and goatee. One evening at the bunkhouse, he patted the spot next to him on a bench and offered her a bite of chocolate cake. She went for the seat, the cake – and the man.

As the relationship grew more serious, girlfriends who knew Beth’s single-mother agenda asked if Phil wanted to have children. ‘I barely know him,’ she’d reply. ‘I’m not really sure. I haven’t asked.’ Phil’s bachelor lifestyle appeared to rule out children. But he was fit, cheeky, and sharp as a pin, and love (sometimes) has a way of making room for more than anticipated. Ups and downs once more ensued, but Beth and Phil eventually had a son. Donor 8282’s sperm again sat in the clinic freezer – like the three of us at times, unwanted and unloved.

I watched all this unfold and was happy for my friends. I had always expected to have children myself, and assumed I would be married by 35. Only how to get there eluded 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?

In each other’s down moments, my girlfriends and I got out the Hat of Hopeful Stories – the work colleague who met her husband on the commuter train, the neighbour who had her first child at 44.

I tried to make it happen. I really did. I tried to marry men who didn’t even want to live with me. Blinded by determination in my mid- to late-30s, I couldn’t see the red flags flapping in my face.

Beth was the kind of woman who would never tell me outright to chuck a boyfriend. She would just let me read between the lines by saying things like, ‘I hope it works out for you the way you want,’ then wait for me to come to my senses. One day, after one of my break-ups, she surprised me. ‘Look, Carey met me the same day she gave me 8282, and she probably had no idea of the magnitude of her gift,’ Beth said. ‘You’re one of my best friends, and while

I can’t give you a new boyfriend, I can give you this.’

Motherhood could be mine. ‘From Carey to you to me,’ I said. Beth replied, ‘Precisely, because you know you can have it.’ She snapped her fingers. ‘Just like that. Voilà.’

The decision was simple. Yes, I didn’t believe these were magical vials of sperm, but I was beginning to think there was some magic in the bold act of committing to have a child. Of taking control of my life instead of waiting for a boyfriend or husband to make my dreams come true.

If parenting is about wanting to responsibly devote your life and love to a child, nothing seemed to me less selfish. And in my mind, I wasn’t ruling out finding romantic love, merely postponing it.

You can guess what happened. Once I accepted Beth’s offer of 8282, one of my best friends offered to father a child with me, and I met my soulmate, an expat Welshman named Mark. Like Beth and Carey, I, with Mark, had devastating setbacks and disappointments. Still, I got to love and motherhood my own way, on my own terms, and with their unyielding support and encouragement.

Carey and Beth are now married. Carey has two children, Beth has one, and I am about to get married after eight years and one child, with a second on the way. It sometimes strikes us as comic that we are women who wanted conventional love and found it in an unconventional way. But happy outcomes are not necessarily tidy, especially when they involve one dream, three friends, and eight vials of donor sperm.

Pamela Ferdinand is co-author (with Carey Goldberg and Beth Jones) of Three Wishes (Piatkus, £13.99.) To order a copy for £11.99 with free p&p, contact the YOU Bookshop on 0845 155 0711, you-bookshop.co.uk

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group

Interview with Evanston Public Library

Pamela — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:15:44 +0000

Pamela Ferdinand is an award-winning journalist who covered breaking news for The Boston Globe, Miami Herald, and Washington Post for over a decade. She is a former adjunct journalism professor at Boston University, has written on wide-ranging topics for The Economist and National Geographic News, and most recently, co-authored the empowering memoir Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood. Picked as a “Tome of the Brave” by Oprah’s O Magazine, Three Wishes is the candid, braided story of how Ferdinand and friends Carey Goldberg and Beth Jones sought their dreams of motherhood with the help of eight shared vials of donor sperm rather than waiting for Prince Charming to arrive. With the talisman of Donor 8282, the trio soon found unexpected luck and love while navigating the compromises and complications inherent in becoming mothers. On Sunday, March 13th, you can hear Ms. Ferdinand read from Three Wishes when she visits EPL’s 1st Floor Community Meeting Room at 2 p.m. along with fellow local authors Christine Sneed and Suzanne Clores. In anticipation of her visit, we recently spoke with her via email about appearing on the Today show, the realities of motherhood, her enduring friendship with Goldberg and Jones, and Three Wishes going to Hollywood .

Evanston Public Library: First off, congratulations on the incredible reception Three Wishes has enjoyed including its selection as a “Tome of the Brave” by Oprah’s O Magazine. What is your reaction to how well Three Wishes has been received? Have you had any particularly memorable encounters with readers this past year? What was it like appearing on the Today show?

Pamela Ferdinand: It’s been gratifying to see how well Three Wishes has been received, and from a much wider audience than we ever expected. I’ve had wonderful feedback from everyone from young women in their 20s who are wondering how to juggle career and family to fathers and grandfathers who felt like the book helped them better understand their daughters and the challenges they might face or have faced. The Today show was a lot of fun, even though it went very quickly. I was amazed at how friendly and warm the hosts are, especially Meredith Viera, and it was interesting seeing what it’s like behind the scenes. But frankly, for someone who co-wrote a memoir, I’m actually a pretty private person so the publicity part of the book business has not been nearly as appealing as the writing and editing and readings.

EPL: What motivated you to write Three Wishes, and when did the idea for the book first strike? Did you, Carey Goldberg, and Beth Jones make the decision together, or did one of you serve as the ringleader in getting the project started?

PF: It was actually other people who encouraged us to write the book and got the ball rolling. Every time we told someone our story, they said, “You have to write about that! That’s a book. That’s a film.” It finally reached the point that we all decided to start talking about actually doing it, and after several months of struggling and trying to figure out how to organize the structure, we began to just write down our individual stories, drawing on our journals and memories. It was much easier to figure out the organization once we had actual material to work with, and it came together fairly quickly.

EPL: Could you give us a window into the process of writing a collaborative memoir? Did you primarily work separately or as a group? What were your biggest challenges? How did the experience of writing Three Wishes compare to projects you undertook as a journalist?

PF: We each wrote our own stories first, so it was fairly straightforward. On a couple of occasions, we went on long weekends together to concentrate on writing, particularly the parts of the book where two or three of us were together and we could help each other remember conversations and what happened. Later, we did a lot of the editing by email, especially after I moved to Chicago, and we took time to craft the interludes that come between each chapter. It was similar to a journalism project because we were dealing with the true story of what happened, and we had to stick to the facts and occasionally talk to people who remembered better than us what happened. But I think the biggest challenge for all of us was reliving the more difficult and emotional events in our lives, and sitting in rooms on our own recreating and really reliving the most painful and sometimes embarrassing memories.

EPL: In the book you write candidly about some very personal topics including dating a married man and having a miscarriage. Was it difficult to write about those times in your life? How did your family feel about your decision to share them? Did you ever have any second thoughts about doing so?

PF: It certainly wasn’t easy, as I mentioned above, but the book wouldn’t have been worth doing if we weren’t prepared to be honest and personal. I think readers are smart, and being superficial is doing them a disservice as well as us. My family was supportive, and I made sure to make sure they were comfortable with everything I wrote, even though they said they wouldn’t want to censor me. No book is worth jeopardizing or hurting the people I love, as far as I am concerned. I have only had second thoughts when I’ve felt like I’ve been misunderstood or when I am feeling especially shy or private and am making new friends who already know a great deal about me when I know little about them. That can be a strange experience.

EPL: What is motherhood like? How does the reality compare to the dreams you nurtured while contemplating a date with Donor 8282? Now that you’re a mom, do you have any advice for parents struggling to strike a balance between a career, their kids, and life with their partners?

PF: Motherhood is better and harder on a day-to-day basis than I imagined, especially as I embark now on having a second child (due in mid-May). All the cliches are true — our daughter gives us unbelievable joy, and I can’t imagine my life without her though I do remember my life before her. I never thought motherhood was easy, but I find the things I struggle with have perhaps less to do with being a mother and more to do with moving to a new place shortly after having become one. I would never dare to give advice to other parents. I have to believe that we’re all doing the best we can, and for me, it’s been a matter of setting expectations about the kind of life Mark and I want to lead — working and traveling and maintaining our individual interests as well as being devoted parents — and living it. We like being out and about in the world with Emma, and working from home together for more freedom but less money, so we have chosen to lead a kind of fluid life that may or may not work for other people. I guess the other thing is that I don’t believe as a parent that I have to reinvent the wheel. Whenever we have issues with Emma, and there haven’t been many, I’m not afraid to seek help and advice. Personally, I don’t believe in suffering as a parent for very long if someone else has come up with some good ideas. It’s not like I’m one of the first mothers on earth!

Carey Goldberg, Pamela Ferdinand, and Beth Jones (Photo by Mark Thomas)

EPL: In addition to being about motherhood and romantic love, Three Wishes is a story of true friendship and your incredible bond with Carey and Beth. Can you talk a little your special relationship with them both? What are they up to these days? How has your return to the Midwest impacted your friendship?

PF: One of the best parts about our book release is that I got to see them on a regular basis as we went to interviews and readings together. My move to Chicago hasn’t impacted our friendships; it just means I miss them. Carey and I first met as work colleagues/competitors, so we became friends later. Beth and I met as single girlfriends, and I think what astounds all of us is how conventional our lives have turned out after we encouraged each other to take unconventional routes to motherhood. People so often read about female rivalries and fights, and we were really excited to tell a story of female friendship and support about three women who truly wanted the best for each other and tried to help each other find happiness. Carey is currently a reporter and blogger for the health site of National Public Radio in Boston; Beth is freelancing, which includes writing for the divorce blog on The Huffington Post. And I think we’re all considering our next book projects.

EPL: When you visit EPL on March 13th, you’ll be reading along with authors Christine Sneed and Suzanne Clores. How did you become acquainted with these two local writers? How do you see your respective works relating to one another?

PF: I became acquainted with Christine Sneed through the Chicago Writers Association, and I am looking forward to meeting Suzanne. I don’t know how much our works relate to each other, and I don’t want to speak for them, but I think we all have tried to show in our own personal ways the beauty and challenges of being human, and I think we are proof that being a woman writer isn’t a singular identity. That women as writers, while sometimes sharing uniquely female experiences, can tell very different kinds of stories in very different ways.

EPL: Can you give Three Wishes fans a sense of what you’re working on next? Do you have future plans for another book either collaboratively or by yourself? Also, word is out that Three Wishes might be coming to the big screen. Can you give us any updates, and most importantly, what actor would you pick to play you in the movie?

PF: Right now I’m working on a second child! Mark and I have a photography business in Evanston as well, doing event and portrait photography. And I’m doing a bit of freelancing but also trying to come up with another book idea that I’m excited about. Carey, Beth and I are likely going to go in different directions with our next projects, but this was a great joint experience. And we’ve been really excited to see that the producers who optioned our book for a film have been winning awards for “The Kids Are All Right” and were just nominated for an Academy Award. They seem excited about our book and have hired someone who is working on the screenplay. I wouldn’t presume to know who should play me! I’m just happy to have been able to be an author and have made it this far.

–March 2011 http://evanstonpubliclibrary.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/an-interview-with-pamela-ferdinand/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Saluting Mom: BookPage recommendations

Pamela — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:13:37 +0000

Celebrating Mother’s Day is always a treat, but this trio of books will make the day more meaningful, thanks to their insight, inspiration and humor.

Kelly Corrigan—writer, wife, mother, cancer survivor—became a household name after the publication of her best-selling memoir, The Middle Place, and popular YouTube video, which has 4.7 million views to date. Her inspirational message takes yet another form in Lift, a letter to her two young daughters, Claire and Georgia. She shares memories and milestones, and muses on how parenthood has changed her: “Before I was your mom, I didn’t have one of those plastic dividers in my silverware drawer. I’d just take the basket out of the dishwasher and dump all the knives, forks, and spoons right into the drawer.” She writes with honesty and elegance about her terror at Claire’s illness, her joy at a friend’s impending motherhood and her sorrow about the death of another friend’s child. And through it all, Corrigan evokes parallels between hang gliding and life: One must go through turbulence to achieve altitude, the titular “lift.” At 96 pages, Lift reads like a letter to a friend—a short read that will leave a lasting impression.

SUPER SURVIVAL GUIDE

Working moms don’t have a lot of time, but even the most harried mother should steal a few moments to enjoy Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom. This handy survival-primer will offer a laugh, some respite or both. Kristin van Ogtrop, editor of Real Simple magazine, shares her own half-insane moments, from the cringe-inducing introduction (alas, vomiting is involved) to the funny work- and home-life tidbits throughout. Dispatches from the worlds of career and motherhood intersect in entries ranging from “Nanny envy” to “Sisterhood of the black, lightweight wool pants”—and there are important questions, too, like “Why do working moms and stay-at-home moms make such assumptions about each other?” Really, there’s something for every mom here, not least an entry to which any mother can relate: “Time management: What?”

LUCKY IN LOVE

A few years ago, three friends—successful journalists, all—learned they had another important thing in common: They were nearing 40, childless, with no potential fathers in sight. Three Wishes is a memoir-times-three about what happens when co-author Carey Goldberg decides to go to a sperm bank. The eight vials she purchases turn out to have an unexpected effect: As each woman consider using the vials, she falls in love and becomes pregnant without an assist from science. Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pamela Ferdinand take turns sharing their stories, which are not without heartbreak, but happiness and hope ultimately prevail in this surprising tribute to friendship and motherhood, despite the odds.

–Linda Castellitto, http://bookpage.com/node/48820

Girlfriend Books review: “What do you share with your friends?”

Pamela — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:11:46 +0000

Some friends share secrets. Others share desserts. But, for Carey, Beth, and Pam, the one thing that ties them all together, is sperm.Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhoodpulls readers into the hearts, minds, and desires of three fantastically candid friends whose lives take more twists and turns than a water-slide.

Carey accepts the life of the single mother, and introduces the women to donor 8282, who becomes not just her baby’s anonymous daddy, but a source of comfort. But Carey finds herself looped into the complicated life of Sprax, who wheedles his way between Carey and donor 8282, yielding a most surprising result.

Beth becomes an ice queen after a heart wrenching divorce that leaves her anything but penniless. By ice-queen, we mean climber, making leaps and bounds up treacherous frozen mountains, and into the arms of Phil. But despite the adventure, one thing is missing, and donor 8282 could hope to fulfill her dreams of being a Mom.

Pam inherits the six foot scientist, and is prepared to be the bearer of the lucky baby, but as fate may have it, donor 8282 ends up being stowed away for a rainy day. Or perhaps not.

Three women, three complicated lives that weave together a tale so beautifully inspiring, it could only be true. Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones, and Pamela Ferdinand lead readers into the true tale of their friendship, with an honesty that keeps you hooked from page one, until the end.

–Maria, March 4, 2011 www.girlfriendbooks.com/?p=387