Moondance

In my opinion...

If you have friends who have been through the agony of IVF, you may think that you have lived it with them.

After reading this novel, it is clear that you have not.

I assume it must be based on personal experience, the distress is so heartfelt. The highs, the lows, the expectations, the frustrations, the total lack of dignity & losing of any sense of pride. And the endless tears.

Month after month, we feel for Cat, as she goes through tests and injections. The hope, and then the total destruction of that hope is so accurate.

As is so often the way, Cat frequently behaves like a monster and Dom is extremely tolerant, but this is not all about negative emotions, as there are brilliant flashes of humour, which as a woman, you nod knowingly, oh yes, it is just like that!

This is not a novel to give to a friend who is going on the IVF journey, but it may be one to carry with you, so you understand a little more as you walk beside them. I was intrigued to see how Diane Chandler would find a satisfactory conclusion to this story. Suffice to say, she does. I have travelled that road with a friend, I just wish I had read this novel sooner.

Thank you Blackbird Digital Books for giving me this advance copy for review, prior to publication on 1 November

Want to know more?...

Bittersweet, at times funny, and always emotionally raw, this is by far the most moving and honest novel you'll ever read about infertility, IVF and its impact on a marriage. By the winner of The People's Book Prize for Fiction 2016.

How can you long for someone who doesn't exist?

Cat has always been in control of her life. Happily married to Dom, but flying high as a political lobbyist, she dismisses his desire to start a family ...until she herself is ready.

But what if it is then too late?

Complex and selfish, intelligent and open, if she is to succeed in having that elusive child, Cat must battle through gruelling fertility treatment and the emotional strain it places on her marriage. By her side, Dom, easygoing and ever the optimist, finds that he too risks being run ragged by their journey.

Both are forced to come to terms with their longing for a baby against the blitz on a relationship tested like never before.

A rare, raw, engaging fictional account of the traumas of infertility told with frankness and humour.

I was drinking...

A nice cup of mint tea- just to be on the safe side!

My rating...