June 25, 2012
In U.K. bestseller Jewell’s ninth novel, readers meet Daniel, a man with a secret: as a sperm donor, he fathered four children. Now, dying from cancer at 53, he wants to find them and enlists his friend Maggie to help. The wealthy Lydia is lonely and disconnected from others; the 21-year-old Dean is a confused young father, coping with parenthood after the recent death of his girlfriend; Robin, a young woman determined to be a doctor, is enmeshed in a love affair with a writer. She knows the story of her conception and has become concerned that her boyfriend, Jack, who looks, thinks, and acts like her, could be her sibling; “It was surely so improbable as to be entirely impossible,” she thinks, yet also acknowledges that it “might not in fact be pure random coincidence” that she and Jack would be drawn together. The identity of Daniel’s fourth child remains a mystery that is only solved when Lydia, Dean, and Robin become determined to find their father. Jewell’s moving novel immerses readers in the lives of these unique characters through the universal themes of family and a search for belonging. While the pseudo-incest thread is unnecessary, it’s also quite funny. Jewell (After the Party) has written a compelling and entertaining novel. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider.
August 1, 2012
Filled with heart and humor, this latest from British bestseller Jewell raises all those big questions about identity, family and fitting in. What if your father was a sperm donor and you had unknown siblings out there. Would you want to know them? This is the question three Londoners have to confront in this poignant novel. Twenty-nine-year-old Lydia lives in a mansion in St. John's Wood thanks to a clever chemical invention she sold for millions. She lives a minimal existence with minimalist furniture (plus a cat, housekeeper and personal trainer so perfect-looking he must be gay). This shiny life does little to make up for the wretchedness of her poor Welsh childhood: Her mother, Glenys, used a sperm donor when she sensed her macho husband, Trevor, was infertile, but after her mysterious death, Trevor despised the daughter he suspected wasn't his. Out of the blue, Lydia receives an anonymous package that tells her she was conceived by a sperm donor--shocking yet somehow vindicating news; she never felt she belonged. She finds a website that tracks donor siblings and there discovers Dean and Robyn. Dean is a 21-year-old sad sack and screw-up. After his girlfriend dies giving birth to their daughter, Dean's response is to run from the hospital and get high. But in his ongoing stupor, he does manage to get on the donor sibling registry and finds Lydia. The two meet--both loners in possession of startling good looks--and feel immediately at home. Last in line is Robyn who, unlike Dean and Lydia, has two loving parents and a happy life (she's a gorgeous med student) but is driven to the registry because she has an irrational fear that her boyfriend--soul mate really--may be her brother. Meanwhile, a man is dying in a hospice, wishing he had made more of his life and confessing to his friend that he has children out there--children she could find for him. In this odd and lovely story, Jewell makes believable the connection between these strangers, bound by biology and longing.
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July 1, 2012
In British writer Jewell's latest modern family saga, three adult siblings meet for the first time when they each discover their biological father was a sperm donor. Driven, emotionally closed Lydia is the most successful sibling, but only on the surface. Dean faces unexpected single fatherhood with a mix of uncomprehension and single-minded terror, which urges him away from anything that can be considered responsible yet ultimately pushes him toward the realities of his life. Robyn is practical yet hampered by a fantasy image of the man she always knew was a donor and never a true father to her. As the siblings uneasily dance through days filled with startling revelations as well as the usual occurrences of life, they discover truths about themselves and the meaning of family that they never before considered but now embrace with all the fervor of acolytes. An engaging tale of choices made and not made, families lost and families gained, this should appeal to fans of Jewell's work (After the Party, 2011) as well as such authors as Jodi Picoult.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)