In her fiercely resolute account of an IVF journey, author Julia Leigh describes the lure of the “titanium hook”. “I only need one and it could be the next one,” she writes in Avalanche.
In that one sentence, the accomplished novelist, screenwriter and director invokes the “avalanche” of expectation that befalls many women who sign up for infertility treatment, especially those of us who jump on board in our late 30s.
At 38, Leigh and her then husband moved from waiting on the sideline to fertility tourists entering the “temple of discretion” (the waiting room) with great trepidation. And with good reason. It was the place of glossy brochures, unspoken laws and weird secrets. A place where “no-one expected or wanted” to be.
It’s the longing that Leigh carries in every cell of her body that leads them there. “Sweet purpose. Sweet dark purpose, secret of secrets. A child would save my life,” she writes… Read More>>
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
