Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Expecting: A Novel
    Expecting: A Novel
    Expecting: A Novel
    Ebook345 pages3 hours

    Expecting: A Novel

    By Ann Hamilton

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "A sweet—albeit twisted—little novel … Hamilton excels at taking a heavy subject and spinning it into a humorous, descriptive, engaging read."—Shelf Awareness for Readers

    The Worst Place Your Water Could Break:

    1. The Hollywood Bowl.

    2. Southwest Flight 3464

    3. In the Trader Joe's parking lot—when your husband isn't answering his phone and you're left at the mercy of your college-aged sperm donor

    Laurie and Alan are expecting, again. It's been an emotional journey, but Laurie cautiously optimistic—the fertility treatment worked, and things seem different this time around. But she doesn't yet know how different.

    Jack can't seem to catch a break—his parents are on his case about graduating from college, he's somehow dating two girls at once, and he has to find a way to pay back the money he borrowed from his fraternity's party fund. The only jobs he is qualified for barely pay enough for beer money, but an ad for the local sperm bank gives Jack an idea.

    When Laurie and Alan discover that Laurie was accidentally impregnated by a sperm donor—Donor 296—they will learn nothing should be expected when you're expecting.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781402295065
    Expecting: A Novel
    Author

    Ann Hamilton

    Award winning writer and producer Ann Lewis Hamilton has written for TV and film. Her TV credits include, among others, "Haven," "The Dead Zone, "Grey’s Anatomy," "Saved," "Providence," "Party of Five," and "thirtysomething." She was twice nominated for an Emmy award, and was the winner of a WGA Award and the Humanitas Prize.

    Related to Expecting

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Deadly Affair

      Aug 6, 2020

      A Deadly Affair
      4 min read

    • Article

      Under The Knife

      Dec 3, 2020

      Under The Knife
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dirty Secret

      Sep 22, 2022

      Dirty Secret
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Sienna’s Monster

      Mar 10, 2021

      Sienna lived with a monster, but no one else knew it. The first time Sienna realized that her monster wasn’t like the rest was in 4th grade. The whole grade assembled in the auditorium. A police officer watched them enter from his place on the stage.

      26 min read

    • Article

      Sick To Death

      Aug 12, 2021

      Sick To Death
      4 min read

    • Article

      One Step At A Time

      Aug 12, 2019

      One Step At A Time
      4 min read

    • Article

      Taken At Birth

      Aug 19, 2021

      Taken At Birth
      4 min read

    • Article

      In His hands

      Oct 28, 2021

      In His hands
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Grocer

      Nov 25, 2022

      The Grocer
      3 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      Open Short Story Winner Tight Situation

      Apr 4, 2024

      When Carol first wakes up, she thinks it must have been a dream. The ringing phone had been distant, muffled as if the landline device had been buried in a bag of something soft like cotton wool - the packing material stuffed so tightly into its bag

      6 min read

    • Article

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • Article

      Runaway Bride

      Aug 21, 2023

      It’s definitely a mistake to have worn the dress to the airport. Alana knows that the second she walks past the terminal’s Wetherspoons – rammed at 5.30am – and is greeted by a chorus of “Lost your groom, love?” by a bunch of drunk stags in matching

      6 min read

    • Article

      An Unspoken

      Mar 3, 2020

      Hal Parker runs out to his wife’s hydrangea bushes. He’s trying to scare away the neighbor’s black Lab, Major. Hal claps his hands in front of him and shouts, but Major’s already peeing on the bush. It seems to Hal that lately the dog just won’t stay

      11 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Lives of Bryan

      Jun 1, 2023

      The Lives of Bryan
      19 min read

    • Article

      A Double Life

      Dec 7, 2020

      Sadie is in the kitchen, already dressed in school uniform, fastening the clips on the violin she chose for her most recent birthday, when Gabriela heads downstairs the following morning. Seven years old: how the hell did that happen? Briefly, she wo

      6 min read

    • Article

      I Saw Plenty

      Jun 1, 2020

      I Saw Plenty
      6 min read

    • Article

      Jason the Heat Guy

      Jan 11, 2021

      Jason the Heat Guy
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Education of Mrs. R.

      Sep 6, 2022

      An adolescent shriek woke her. Cockerels, she thought, cockerels, with a wry twist to the word. She lay in the dark listening. There was no use in covering her head; the screaming still came through. The soloist was suddenly submerged in the chorus.

      13 min read

    • Article

      I Am the Tooth Fairy

      Nov 14, 2019

      I Am the Tooth Fairy
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Expecting

    4/5

    9 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      (Received from NetGalley) There was a bit of a mixup with NetGalley. They originally rejected my request to read this book, and then wrote asking if I was interested in various publicity events. Um, you rejected me, I replied. They then made the galley available, and all is well. A much more serious mixup occurred in the book (spoiler - but it's near the beginning and all the reviews mention it. Stop reading NOW if you want to be surprised). Laurie and Alan are happily married and have suffered 2 miscarriages, so decide to try a fertility treatment using Alan's own sperm. Laurie is thrilled when the pregnancy takes, only to learn that there was a mixup at the clinic, and she is carrying the baby of Donor 296 - Jack, an Asian-Indian UCLA student. They track Jack down, and he becomes part of their lives. We hear the story from all three points of view. Possibly a far-fetched premise, but it makes for interesting reading.
    • 3/5
      The author has managed to find a way to throw three perfectly nice people into an impossible situation and that makes for a good story.
    • 4/5
      After two early term miscarriages, happily married couple Laurie and Alan seek fertility advice and agree to try Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). They are delighted, if somewhat wary, when they discover Laurie is expecting but as the pregnancy progresses past the point of their earlier losses, they allow themselves to dream of their future as a family. Until a phone call from the fertility clinic changes everything.Told from the third person perspectives of Laurie, the expectant mother, Alan, her husband, and college student Jack, also known as Donor #296, Expecting, by Ann Hamilton, explores an unique situation where Laurie learns that the father of her baby is not her husband but instead Donor #296, thanks to the actions of a disgruntled clinic employee.I felt for each of the protagonists in this story. As Alan struggles to accept the shocking news, Laurie has already formed a connection with the child growing within her, and feels compelled to find out more about Donor #296, leading her to contact Jack, whom she discovers is a college student of Asian Indian heritage.For the most part I believed in the motivations and thoughts of the characters caught in such a complicated situation and I liked the way in which the author considered the issues from multiple perspectives.I understood Laurie's refusal to consider a termination and her curiosity about the donor. I too would want to meet him, though I would probably be far more reluctant to embrace him in the way Laurie does. In several ways I think it is admirable, especially as it means 'Buddy' will be able to have a relationship with his/her biological parent and family, but Laurie doesn't really consider the impact on her husband, even though she professes too.I was surprised at how much I sympathised with Alan's feelings of jealousy, anxiety and anger and his concerns about his ability to love a child, especially one that won't look like him, that is not his. His reaction, to distract himself with the fantasy of a relationship with his ex girlfriend, may have been inappropriate, but is somewhat understandable.Jack is a fairly typical college student confronted by a decidedly atypical situation. Laid back and easy going he is just as indecisive about deciding what role he will play in the baby's life as he is in choosing a major, or a girlfriend.Hamilton's tone is deceptively lighthearted, finding humour amongst the angst of the situation. The story is well paced with the shifts between perspectives, and short chapters, making it a quick and easy read.I enjoyed Expecting, I found it to be both an entertaining and surprisingly thought provoking novel with an interesting perspective on an unusual issue. Ann Lewis Hamilton is a debut author with promise.

    Book preview

    Expecting - Ann Hamilton

    H1^book_preview_excerpt.html}ےG寤驻 UThvV4"&44= U (/O?/s{D&ȶ}5V{?s>WO!zM;zc^~*tutcVu]]M\t;Wn>K]EXc?^^uܧ1wMjn~aL|ekjڄ*pWw}!4mL擶ē7ucDq՚86ljCz.6n>u͆f;wpӦ7c}Ec;1-~7ja$nկSu#m7ދ46$wMV^U?]Ӷm%}O_oxOuVW7%xtf27Ǐ?4جLba\v`P= ﴃP\5ݕ1 _M"{\|Ӄ;i0mκp >_>Ҫfm?B۞\ayx}%X}.c6:-p{YK^ />Tr96ۂjDׯSǂ|Bip!6Kzȡd!b ݻ1XԌ_~N.$l6>c5Ā'oP4tCzp״>mW}wAŽ\ƃÑ,D_?Jd1#Ր:m86H$~lx)q@3LXŮ;Ӱv(M~v6MsZH"'<4åzDWv6]ߞt˭wn#Eb;Q5ƉU5$B 3aOqKuKN xOO'p0d f 𦋾dnSbj-?%u ;]3^x $"vFd<޶GJUv@x# J@9%h1| G.a '1DBƴ ֌ϥ%]-wW*.v4r}{Wɇ!$chxM XcEAi&bhz¯7 Q#k?l1P6K:4 Fl*OHⰀm|~kY$<iK5oN]4f/ާT` ~x+﴿0(r3*f*.7 >K,*X`v*Xs9ݺt ܛADs)FFϧ|&ŧ}a.'#R[WÙNAZ n\m ;jCэ |- 7 ;IF6}PHBgӭ3XC佾تW@Db15l I64i6Z7maZDcHhV TN:#BӰ'[dtˏ D ̃Mۗ"5\z2!nL,א>= $KpD)k ,FyLzLQ4z}CVV}0X<#=cbVc4UKHt o< mkF7kĒ~B ȉ.1_"\Ț}pN˵6掍*xg]N9q^#ځ5mI7ُ}<^]P PQ Fznt- Ć)1Ǹ9 t yb=P3,R%NΌ O0]:,a5U4w8+@Z]N&x{ɺn" }MEGXqs@wZ7&|*EW\imR/9(FtCǩ3$%y4r:Sgfw86ƣY$\Kp>sRKI#lK!(g{7RywjpC_CB^|M{>H W д{l#ٸEzmE i8sӒwJm > }7Ү@I`iÓptZo1mZHY<6 Gɖi[O N[+Vl5-l\ڵU/l)"8ښOa,)"u>+6r )l`5^pАJ,9%$4+%>O){sHMچ{w_}^dy 9װNoJןRH>[=Proï>>9OP)m&MR]M]mM/F gLbrZ@ G` TW:Sv,ث)z fZVq6'ax`Bi42|B*2WEuʘʢ.kKcASAtiɧ4t陃Кi݃͛ypB!@P+C}cYD5\k =_Uu%:wȵH-&fr C8* ?(@mG\a`f ^j gC Ao"+g eҥnݻgҙY#T((kiV8-,!ee;jbE}M])=7]b@-@X%|6z^@UIz6{js8 Ep3\S&Õ-VۼMig ˫ u8,$vK}^T^*l0 aJ xFCaz7҇^СܘѻxvA~@YF\2wl67={,s*e$v[A/V2p.fMjt`u f v%Ti4)p>(@">6cQ+(aC8Os^'09laM?'&VnDR 13' lz| + }#F"!IglbgδsI4|O-JCxM_]\?r6G`/׺Hұc td f-}^랢:WykwTwgRڋ~Uv"Ri3hvߋ9E@/̉e#"BzWtk7fx2f_02(im39_VT)aMi{{3AD|)< oRsN=mΧM_ZM!.g&}r<90_z]B)0̤19Ӓ/rEdPun&C cϚcR%pB,(A+[Ef(۶Ԕrn[ҏ;Axw>ߖ(fkb̀9Y*Wd&s.zJ,ťd؃,^-ʝ,1pLτ5\{eK@? 0=@ᅂeo?oKvzi21,$ܳc `:o]˾`iY$v٣uO6ٓMT2Gd)l(1N=LfaDWNB_$!ohbr+H's3]!zIo e~r]Y` gU,^U;t..޷ٓ }5-[^?=ot(la[jW &p3>VgFň JzEl~_xH|(­5I { I?.<22;yU05W;ԴLp %U.TW9.%1;W`2 #VK7ƘL tK9YOt Vf)e1b?O"+>̤XwDZ75i-8d6#fnԛ颠4 ,KliCAs5yh`; @@x]!i=XLݮruZh>9a v-X}T.BHx0JTUo8}KπF{ @.S !)r7k,f_xUwǺ4:>4m>oy>;BaQm;ͥ<@x_8*s:aw`,ʹp\im͂d@P.RB:w;:BM<%C7+ ^y>`7xo wMd(1[ӱ$TtbceW j wF8!8MAƊ (?F,ǣW3M8'\cH*5EFhݾSy!XJuq`͙L Mjh3uNˠ甮(mVPWl?""/B'tgEݕԥ!A:R+'HTy)of,O#5v yjnFA)>>.~#M5o!_=^AZۆV\/vɿ&c{ăKrGC/X}#= !2a%ҾPu\6y.ћi&1mSjjXTJS7ȼËOgfC5i};wn͹R3Զa~ځ% J/z0~Y3Ej۞5jjv6>˗5^xh2۔==JoInդUP;ֽ:9T[p{5QZIP]ΰt{Yg|uاcIK7)zK bxHxI&bKĘ> \fd`~k&T/AAᦘCWN_ЩRukf[[=6Co~5dCV9~Ux=UAYVz)!x6[=sRRQL.tEn_/5xƃCӼuš 2c91>%~*}rri4j먞Dww?0Lj?h}m*3rJC\׀_O<'Q&=YTp$oxaVcAd,ӣ iSd~˸Tg/Wjht!v\q7vعȕEd֤u鵿 xMP3 Qy0hrA2ZupƺɁv&`SË.;~RUu2kQj 5ˢԳk*!O"S?eٻ^+yud:^ySbݮU%uHQ7Ugfbȵ6h̸/uuLOE˸xyku׈@`htY NבJh sχI_4p'Ec}< `PvP\Q 4SeOXnn>)j(69@u׋&V|dn0 BCl4u=к*XClRCy5d۴^ac%"{Ks߾%M,jsڎ<撷_8.WnJ8? f<=:Pˏ?pKv?NLcA>rM+?} mej=Rk 1p\0eU|O53@c 8>ȩ53KTt[39cO3Hsh o,̽+xP_g@Y17exP<`1WS7 SP>NNg߁߳q,O`z!WT~qT H{l,gWJQW?,P(Wg9B㝐诰 ɲ- CLuQ^d\ISNћJaB75_9"S\NZ.h9pUU2ȋ^7]Lݕx!;\Mo19D<0q{gW_Ws q\[ ocG?Ě@ ak#<;L^e)0Wk]#6۰.`Ɯ$ _vnRb>ֵ5ucIUX*b% i>f~X[OBuf8??.# I0UzL`Q`\x)]SjU>\R;Yj>R sQyR欭s:; 0FT#MSpCÃuNe=ӧ]d0C'5J=ISP\ CѦ|8fqJ/[ݹ!SjEՖqz2wd!c3i"R+
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1