Congrats to Rose Diell, a talented new author whose first novel Fledging was just published, and features my book review testimonial as a promotional quote. Here is my full quick review:
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Fledging
by Rose Diell
Renard Press, 2024
Riddle: How did the novelist tell a dead serious story and make her readers laugh?
Answer: By having her human heroine lay an egg while she is trying to decide between parenting and being childfree.
With an original braiding of fantasy, whimsy, tortured dark nights of the soul, and slapstick chick-hiding in a basket, Lia wrestles with the tumultuous baby decision. Diell is especially good at conveying Lia’s loneliness: her partner is on a different continent, her friends are all getting pregnant, and she can’t bring herself to tell a doctor about her egg/hatched chick or her own body’s role in its creation.
Paradoxically, Diell overcomes readers’ loneliness by drawing them into her worldwide circle of sister readers.
While some of Fledging’s language is appropriately quick and clipped, other writing is lyrical: Diell calls trouble sleeping “indecision insomnia.” Here’s her comment on the egg that has just come out of her bleeding body: “a white moon blinks back at me from a sea of red.” Her relief when she comes to a decision is a “great exhalation dispersing like dandelion seeds on the breeze.”
I imagine that Jennifer Flynn’s Wild Egg, Emma Gannon’s Olive, and Sheila Heti’s Motherhood make room on my bookshelf to welcome Rose Diell’s superb Fledging. I imagine the four authors, with their four heroines, laughing and telling stories after readers have gone to bed.
You can learn more about Rose Diell on her website, and order the book via the publisher, or via Goodreads.
Please note: I do not receive any incentives or commissions for recommending or linking to books. The links above are provided only for your convenience.
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What are your favorite baby decision books?
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What other novels or nonfiction books do you recommend that touch on childfree or parenthood decision-making topics? Let me know! Email me anytime via my online contact form. You can also share your recommendations or ideas in our private Facebook group called “The Decision Café“—or on my Instagram page, which often features new article previews and special content.
And don’t miss my 2024 Book Recommendations page, which I update all year with new books on a range of topics related to childfree vs. parenthood decision-making. My latest fiction and nonfiction picks delve into topics as diverse as parenthood environmental considerations, adoption, parenting, and better communication.
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– Merle Bombardieri
