NEW RELEASE
Then Came You - Jennifer Weiner (2011)
This story explores the theme of surrogacy and is told from the perspectives of four different women. Julia, a recent graduate of Princeton University, sells her eggs to a fertility clinic. Annie, a mother of two boys, becomes a surrogate to help out with some of the bills but it ends up causing trouble for her marriage. India and her new wealthy husband, Marcus, have been unsuccessful in conceiving a baby. So India turns to surrogacy to help her get the baby she has always wanted and selects Annie as the woman to carry her child. Marcus' daughter Bettina is not a fan of her father's new wife and seeks to destroy the relationship. A single event brings them all together. What will happen when all the players get together for the first time? This is another well-written, often heart-wrenching story from Jennifer Weiner, and I found myself turning the pages quickly to find out what would happen next. (JG)
Jennifer Weiner's upcoming novel Then Came You focuses on surrogacy. She writes on her blog: "Then Came You concerns four women and a baby. There's India, the older, wealthy, married lady who wants to get pregnant, and can't. There's Jules, the college student who donates an egg, and Annie, the Pennsylvania housewife who serves as a surrogate, and Bettina, India's 23-year-old stepdaughter, who's deeply skeptical of the whole endeavor. It's an exploration into the issues that surrogacy raises ... and also, the story of how these women end up forming a very modern family." The summary says: "Jules Wildgren is a 21-year-old Princeton college senior with a full scholarship and a family she's ashamed to invite to Parents' Weekend. Tall, blonde, and outwardly identical to her wealthy high school classmates, her plan is to take the $10,000 she'll receive from donating her 'pedigree' eggs and try to save her father from addiction. Annie Barrow is a 34-year-old working-class married mother of two who scrapes by on her family's single paycheck. After watching a TV show about surrogates, she thinks she's found a way to recover a sense of purpose and bring in some extra cash ... India Bishop, 38 (really 43), believes she's found her happy ever after when she marries a very wealthy and much older man, Marcus Croft, but decides that a baby will seal the deal. When all of her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to technology, and Annie and Jules, to help make her dreams come true." Then Came You is out in July.