Tony Parsons "The Family Way"

One of my friends has recently started a bookclub and picked this as the first book.

I enjoyed it. It was an easy read. The themes of the book are ones found in many others. The baby dance. The struggles of those who want children and can't have them compared to those who do have them. What makes this book different is it is written by a man and I think that even though the main characters are women it shows. I am not sure how or why but there is a slightly different feel. That said, not in a bad way. The author deals with the subjects sensitively and he must have done a lot of listening and talking to women to be able to write so well about some of the topics covered.

Three sisters. One, Jessica, childless, married and desperately wanting a baby. One, Cat, who swears she never wants children. And one, Megan, who is at the beginning of her professional career and who accidentally gets pregnant after a one night stand. Their mother walked out on them when they were young and made no secret of her opinion that having children ruined her life. Each of the girls have to deal with the shadows of this past as well as having to face their own personal demons about decisions they have made in the past and decisions they have to make in their future.

Covering topics such as fertility, low socio-economic areas, trust, betrayal, abortion and most importantly of all family, this book was a good read. Warning. Lots of sexual references and the style of this writing was one of the times I was reminded I was reading a book written by a man! I am looking forward to discussions about this book at bookclub.