Book Review: The Two Week Wait by Sarah Rayner

What if the thing you most longed for was resting on a two week wait?

After a health scare, Brighton-based Lou is forced to confront the fact that her time to have a baby is running out. She can't imagine a future without children, but her partner doesn't seem to feel the same way, and she's not sure whether she should go it alone.

Meanwhile, up in Yorkshire, Cath is longing to start a family with her husband Rich. No one would be happier to have a child than Rich, but Cath is infertile.

Could these strangers help each other out?

I read Sarah Rayner's last book, One Moment, One Morning last year and  really enjoyed her writing style so I was extremely pleased to receive her latest book to review. The Two Week Wait is not really a sequel but it does have the three female central characters from the author's last book. Anna, Karen and Lou became close friends after meeting through the tragic death of Karen's husband. The Two Week Wait mainly focuses on Lou and it was great to get to know her character better. Lou is a lesbian in a long term relationship when she is informed that she has limited time if she wants to have children. Lou's partner does not share her need to start a family so Lou has to look at other options. This is where Cath comes in, cancer and its treatment has left her infertile but she is desperate to have a child. These two women never meet but their lives become linked when Lou donates her eggs to Cath in exchange for Cath funding Lou to have IVF treatment with a sperm donor.
This book follows these two women as they embark on this terrifying journey. Sarah Rayner captures the huge range of emotions that Lou and Cath experience; hope, excitement, fear, despair, doubt, the list is endless. The title of the book refers to the time period that Lou and Cath have to wait in order to find out if the treatment has worked. I have experienced the two week wait myself when trying for a baby and also know several women who have had IVF treatment. It is such a fraught time; you don't want to get your hopes up or the hopes of others around you but it's so hard not to get carried away and wonder what if?
I would seriously recommend Sarah Rayner's books, she writes with huge sensitivity and captures emotions perfectly. Her books focus very much on female characters but all of her characters are individuals and they each bring something different to the story.
The Two Week Wait is a really good read, you don't need to have read One Moment, One Morning but I probably would as it is another great book.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 5/5

Many thanks to Emma at ed public relations for sending me a copy of the book to review, it is published by Picador and is out now.