An Excellent Choice - Panic and Joy on My Solo Path to Motherhood (Hardcover)


I mumble 'I need to order some sperm'. The receptionist puts me through to a technician to see if what I want is available. 'Number?' says the man. I give him the reference for my sperm donor. There is a clacking of keys, followed by a short pause. Then with the smoothness of a sommelier fielding a wine order at dinner, he says 'An excellent choice'.

Emma Brockes is thirty-seven, lives alone, and wants children. She is in a relationship (good!) but they aren't doing the parenting together (weird!). Her partner, L, has her own child. Emma needs sperm, a doctor, and not to bankrupt herself before any child arrives. And that's just the beginning - there are a million choices to make when you are taking the untraditional route to motherhood.

Is she ready to be a single mother? Is there a way of talking about any of this honestly without being too defensive or too jolly? Should the sperm donor be a writer like her, or someone with completely different talents (something equally interesting, just not too interesting ie. a mime artist)? Are high-waisted postnatal support pants essential or optional? What will her baby be to L? Will they be parallel parenting? Proximal parenting? Parenting in each other's general direction?

Brockes navigates these decisions against a background of uninvited opinion, scolding, and the general hysteria that always accompanies a woman's decision to have (or not have) children. With generous heart and humour, An Excellent Choice examines essential questions about motherhood and the modern family - and asks how and why so many women are choosing to solo parent.


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Product Description

I mumble 'I need to order some sperm'. The receptionist puts me through to a technician to see if what I want is available. 'Number?' says the man. I give him the reference for my sperm donor. There is a clacking of keys, followed by a short pause. Then with the smoothness of a sommelier fielding a wine order at dinner, he says 'An excellent choice'.

Emma Brockes is thirty-seven, lives alone, and wants children. She is in a relationship (good!) but they aren't doing the parenting together (weird!). Her partner, L, has her own child. Emma needs sperm, a doctor, and not to bankrupt herself before any child arrives. And that's just the beginning - there are a million choices to make when you are taking the untraditional route to motherhood.

Is she ready to be a single mother? Is there a way of talking about any of this honestly without being too defensive or too jolly? Should the sperm donor be a writer like her, or someone with completely different talents (something equally interesting, just not too interesting ie. a mime artist)? Are high-waisted postnatal support pants essential or optional? What will her baby be to L? Will they be parallel parenting? Proximal parenting? Parenting in each other's general direction?

Brockes navigates these decisions against a background of uninvited opinion, scolding, and the general hysteria that always accompanies a woman's decision to have (or not have) children. With generous heart and humour, An Excellent Choice examines essential questions about motherhood and the modern family - and asks how and why so many women are choosing to solo parent.

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Product Details

General

Imprint

Faber and Faber

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Release date

June 2018

Availability

Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days

Authors

Dimensions

223 x 143 x 28mm (L x W x T)

Format

Hardcover

Pages

288

ISBN-13

978-0-571-32746-1

Barcode

9780571327461

Categories

LSN

0-571-32746-X



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