Nobody's Child

Written by Austin Boyd

Narrated by Pam Ward

Austin Boyd’s vivid writing plunges you into Appalachia with such descriptive realism that you taste the perfume of summer clover and melt into the tender heart of a young woman who would sacrifice anything for Daddy. Hearkening to the myth of Pandora’s Box, Nobody’s Child sweeps you into a world where unprecedented choices never intended by heaven lead to unintended consequences never before seen on earth. Meet… Laura Ann McGehee—Determined to honor her father’s dying request, the young West Virginia woman will do whatever it takes to save the family farm, including using the one remaining financial resource she has—her body. Sophia McQuistion—Thanks to the unusual sacrifice of a woman she has never met, she carries the child she could never conceive. Ian Stewart—In Laura’s time of need, he’s more than just a close friend. He is a source of grace, a man who loves Laura Ann through her many trials. When unusual circumstances place Sophia’s baby in Laura Ann’s care, Laura Ann is now the virgin mother of her own biological son. The media call him “Nobody’s Child.” But somebody wants him badly enough to steal him. Weaving together bioethics and faith, Nobody’s Child dramatizes a future that is already upon us with consequences we can no longer avoid.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Aug 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9780310598930

Austin Boyd

Austin Boyd is the award-winning author of the thrilling space suspense trio, The Evidence, The Proof and The Return. An inventor, business entrepreneur, spacecraft engineer, and Navy pilot, he weaves real science with true-to-life characters in descriptive page-turning suspense. Austin and his wife, Cindy are the parents of four adult children and live  in Huntsville, Alabama where he manages an engineering and design company, and serves the community through Crisis Pregnancy ministries.

Reviews for Nobody's Child

[jenniferbogart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Faced with her father’s mounting medical bills, a heavy debt load on their struggling farm, and a list of familial woes, Laura Ann McGehee makes a decision that she feels will save the family farm, despite its questionable morality. Desperate to bear the child she and her husband never had, single mother Sophia McQuistion arranges a pregnancy that is beyond her physical capabilities. Together these two women have mothered a child, but whose is he truly?Modern reproductive technology has brought with it a host of ethical and moral concerns that even the church has been hard pressed to deal with. The rapid spread of such technologies has brought to surface many challenging questions that even Christians rarely ask themselves before plunging head-first into the quest for a child – no matter the cost (both moral and financial).In Zondervan’s new series The Pandora Files, author Austin Boyd seeks to explore some of the issues raised by new life-related technologies. In the first novel Nobody’s Child, Boyd explores the issues of egg donation, artificial insemination, and of carrying a child to term made up of the life-giving genetic contributions of two separate people – neither one the mother carrying the child. It may seem bizarre but it is an all too real fact of modern life in our culture.This is a richly textured story filled to bursting with the details of life in rural Appalachia. It gets off to a slow start, but slowly and surely draws readers into the weft and warp of its fabric. The story can be a bit more wordy than needed at times (too many similes and metaphors) – it almost seems to be striving to be literary fiction, but doesn’t quite make it.Around halfway through the story I did become personally engaged with the characters and was brought to tears at times. This is very much a story of the women, the choices they make, and how it affects their lives. There are also some interesting details about the medical procedures used and potential legal ramifications that are not commonly known. This is a series that has been needed for some time in my opinion.I received a complimentary copy of this book to review.Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com