The Underachieving Ovary

Does the word ‘endometriosis’ make you want to stick a fork in your eye? No? Then perhaps this book isn’t for you. It’s funny, and (sometimes alarmingly) frank. It contains an impressive array of synonyms for ‘vagina’ and it’s certainly NSFW.

It’s about having a devil womb and a hot knife lodged in my shoulder. It’s about becoming blackly bitter and twisted in my infertility, and then slowly finding a way to untwist myself. It’s part memoir, part dark comedy, wrapped up loosely as a journal full of TMI and quirk.

Let me put it this way: If Helen Fielding and Marian Keyes were to go through IVF, and use Caitlin Moran as a surrogate, this book would be their baby.

Plus:

[SPOILER ALERT] It has a Happy Ending, in the form of a most delicious baby.

It’s called ‘The Underachieving Ovary’ and the 3rd draft is sitting at 96,000 words. It’s set in Jo’burg, but the themes (infertility, hope, eye-forking) are universal.

(The manuscript is currently out for submission)