Finding Grace: A Novel-Loretta Rothschild, author; Fiona Button, narrator
Tom and Honor Wharton were celebrating Christmas at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, with their daughter Chloe. Instead of being joyful, they were arguing about having another child. Honor could no longer have her own children, so she had engaged a surrogate and was waiting to see if their efforts would be rewarded. Honor had carefully picked an egg donor that looked most like her and had a personality most like hers. She was obsessed and kept badgering Tom to check to see if the surrogate, Jess, had become pregnant. He did not want to discuss it over the holiday, however, but she insisted.
Because of the argument, she had taken Chloe down to the restaurant for crepes, without Tom. He was angry and had remained behind. While Honor and Chloe were looking at the tree, a woman smiled at them. Then she blew herself up. The suicide bomber had stolen Honor and Chloe from Tom. He was consumed with guilt because they had argued. He had failed to protect those he loved. Also, ironically, shortly after this horrible event, the surrogate called to say she was pregnant. She had no idea that Honor and Chloe had been murdered. Tom, was financially independent, so he retired to devote himself fully to raising his son, Henry.
Time passed and almost five years later, a letter was mistakenly sent to Tom, instead of to Henry’s anonymous egg donor. Now she was no longer anonymous. Tom knew that he should have immediately returned the letter to the post, but one thing led to another, and instead, lonely and still grief stricken, he decided to find out who was this Grace Stone, the biological mother of Henry. All he really intended to do was glimpse her and return home, but instead, Cupid’s arrow pierced his heart. He entered her shop on a night that she was hosting a group of widows that met regularly at her wine shop. He discovered that she was also a widow and asked if a widower could join the group. Reluctant at first, she soon relented.
Tom realized that he would soon have to reveal the truth about who he was and how he came to her shop. He really meant to, but each time he tried, something came up and prevented it. Then, since he was hopelessly attracted to Grace, as their relationship blossomed, he feared that telling her would frighten her away. To protect their relationship, he began to tell her lie after lie. The picture he was envisioning of his developing family seemed too perfect to risk giving it up. Would Grace stay with him if she discovered the real relationship that existed between her history and Henry’s? Would she be so angry that she would leave them both? Could he risk that? His world would collapse again. As predicted, when secrets were revealed, misunderstandings followed, and he lost control of the situation. The relationship was no longer in his hands.
As the story moves forward, Honor reveals bits and pieces of their past lives. She also observes Tom and Henry as they deal with their lives in the present and with the passage of time. She watches as he devotes himself to raising Henry and remains close to their best friends and their children. She is a friendly observer who artfully tells the story of her relationship with Tom while observing the differences in his relationship with Grace. She also discovers things that were unknown to her about her friends and her mother.
The novel raises many questions about loss and how we deal with it. It also raises a question about motherhood. Who is the mother when a surrogate and egg donor are used. Is it the egg donor because of the biological connection or is it the surrogate that carries, in her body, the egg and sperm that fertilize to become an embryo? Or, is it the woman to whom the infant, when born, is finally delivered, the woman who devotes her life to loving and raising the child? Who was really Henry’s mother?
If it was not known that it was Grace’s egg that Tom had fertilized, there would have been no question as to whom was the mother. Once she was known, however, was she not the true parent, especially since Henry never met Honor? Honor died before he was born, and she had not even learned that the procedure was finally successful. Then you have another question. Grace was adopted, but weren't her parents considered authentic? They loved and raised her, and the birth mother and father were seemingly unknown. What happens if the children who are adopted or are created with surrogates and egg or sperm donors meet later in life, unknowingly? What if these "relatives" marry? what will the effect be on future children? So, although the book was about other things like parenting, dealing with grief, loneliness, romance, secrets, lies and even terrorism, the book raised interesting questions for discussion about the possibility of finding love again, along with the sadness that comes from loving someone in vain.