Hold my Girl by Charlene Carr

Review by Sheri (@afictionalinterlude)

The story follows two women Katherine and Tess who used the same IVF clinic on their conception journey. Katherine births a baby girl while Tess has a stillborn. Their lives intertwine irrevocably when it is revealed later on that their eggs were switched at the clinic, and Katherine's daughter is in fact biologically Tess's.

Oof! This was a lot! The story is written in such a way that you're able to empathise with and villainize both women in equal measure simultaneously. It's such a difficult situation where neither party can get what they truly desire. This book will have you pondering what exactly defines a mother. Is it the person whose cells the child originates from? Is it the person who carries and births the child? Is it the person who nurtures and raises the child? How does this definition differ legally versus morally?

I found myself wondering about all of these and I realised that it would not matter to me in the slightest bit if my children originated from someone else. They are mine and that's all I was willing to consider. So I have to admit that I was very biased reading this story. I picked a side almost immediately and I upheld it till the very end but I wondered if I would have felt differently if I wasn't a mother.

Another thing I wondered about was how the story would differ if both women's children had survived. Would you seek to have a relationship with your biological child or would you leave well enough alone? I wondered if Tess would have been content to not pursue custody and only did so because she had lost her child. I wondered if Katherine would have held on as tightly to her girl if she had another out there.
The story made me so anxious and restless. It manages to capture all the emotions both women were experiencing and in turn makes the reader an emotional mess. This is such a well written book that engenders a lot of discussion and is definitely a perfect pick for bookclubs.

RATING: 4.5/5