TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

by Deborah Moggach ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 1987

In Moggach's sixth novel (A Quiet Drink, Hot Water Man, Porky, etc.), the subject of surrogate parenthood risks terminal trendiness and media burnout in the Great Britain of Baby Louise. But, surprisingly, this story of one sister's having a baby for another turns out to be witty, sympathetic, and filled with treats. Set in London and its environs, the novel concerns Viv, raffish and vivacious, and her sister Anne, two years older and generations more stolid. Proudly working class, Viv is married to the well-born Ollie, whom she met at their red-brick university. Viv teaches school; Ollie writes ads; and they live together in cluttered, messy (and sexy) happiness with their two daughters. In contrast, Anne, a bureaucratic administrator, and her Non U husband Ken, who yearns for his own garden shop, occupy a neat-as-a-pin house, its sterility a metaphor for her own. Having had one stillborn daughter and a miscarriage, Anne needs a hysterectomy. Viv, generous (and fertile), decides to have a child for Anne with Ken. Dismissing artificial insemination (for flimsy reasons--a contrivance on the author's part to hurry her characters into bed), Viv and Ken couple with complicated results. (""Thunderstorms ahead"" indicates the barometer on the wall of the foursome's Devon holiday hotel.) Ollie moves out, starts a novel, takes up with Elite from work. Anne suffers martyrdom and job promotions. Ken suffers (""I'm ill, Viv. . .I'm ill with you""). Viv suffers morning sickness. Their divorced mother Irene, who sells tickets at the Odeon, gives her daughters pep talks. Their father Douglas, engaged to Vera the Austrian widow, reveals startling news to Anne. And throughout lies the question of whether or not Viv will be able to give up her baby. What Moggach explores in this lively book--crammed with appealing British eccentrics and complex turns of plot--is the nature of a family, both nuclear and extended, and the adjustments its members make. Any initial resistance to the topic of surrogate parenthood is overcome by the engaging characters and finely tuned social nuances.

Pub Date: March 24, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION