Panic and Joy

“What a pleasure to read writing about motherhood that isn’t deeply forbidding; to observe someone forming the family she wants, not the one expected of her; and to be handed a kind of model for how to do just that—not a prescriptive parenting guide, but a reminder that people can care for one another in a lot of different, imperfect, achievable ways.” —Faith Hill, The Atlantic

“[A] splendid and fascinating book. [Brockes’s] memoir is subtitled ‘Panic and Joy on My Solo Path to Motherhood,’ but I saw no time when Brockes — supremely confident, sensible and twice as smart as anyone else in the room — panicked. She is cool, methodical and, at times, insanely funny, with a great eye for the ironies and amusements of life…There is no doubt that her decision — at least for us readers — was an excellent one indeed.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“The book speaks to a growing contingent of would-be parents who reach their 30s and 40s and find they have the means and motivation to have kids outside of a conventional domestic partnership, embracing their chosen single parenthood as a form of empowerment. It seems as if almost everyone bearing a child is writing a book about it, but Brockes is too original a personality to fall in quietly with the rest. A disarming and casually hilarious take on the opposite of co-parenting.” —Kirkus

“Brockes’ second memoir will have readers caught up in the excitement and anxiety of pregnancy along with her. Her humor and empathy shine through, even during her most challenging moments. Whether parents, aspiring parents, or happily child-free, readers will enjoy Brockes’ intimate story of how she became a mother.” —Booklist

“[A] thoughtful memoir…Brockes takes readers on a fascinating and sometimes frustrating journey through fertility treatments, dashed hopes and delays, often accenting her tale with clever comparisons of the American and the British health care systems…An uplifting, well-told story, in which Brockes walks the fine line between surrendering to chance (i.e., not one but two babies) and taking charge to make tough but excellent choices.” —Publishers Weekly

“I don’t know whether to love Emma Brockes more as a writer or a human being. Why can’t we all face life with her courage, grace, and shockingly good sense of humor?”
—Lauren Collins, author of When in French

“Emma Brockes is a spiky, smart and ferocious writer. Her quest to become a mother is alternately harrowing and hilarious.”
—Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé and There Are No Grown-ups

“Witty, irreverent, and wickedly perceptive, An Excellent Choice illuminates not one, but a whole host of still quasi-taboo topics from sperm donors to assisted reproduction. Emma Brockes is a beautiful writer, a wonderful story-teller, and a keen observer of human nature.”
—Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and Political Tribes