Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Panic & Joy  By  cover art

Panic & Joy

By: Emma Brockes
Narrated by: Emma Brockes
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $16.35

Buy for $16.35

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

When British journalist, memoirist, and New York transplant Emma Brockes decides to become pregnant, she quickly realises that, being single, 37 and in the early stages of a same-sex relationship, she's going to have to be untraditional about it. From the moment she decides to stop 'futzing' around, have her eggs counted and 'get cracking'; through multiple trials of IUI, which she is intrigued to learn can be purchased in bulk packages, just like at Costco; to the births of her twins, which her girlfriend gamely documents with her iPhone and selfie stick, Brockes is never any less than bluntly honest about her extraordinary journey to motherhood.

She quizzes her friends on the pros and cons of personally knowing one's sperm donor, grapples with esoteric medical jargon and the existential brain melt of flipping through donor catalogues, and conjures with the politics of her Libertarian OB/GYN - all the while exploring the cultural circumstances and choices that have brought her to this point.

Brockes writes with charming, self-effacing humour about being a British woman undergoing fertility treatment in the United States, poking fun at the starkly different attitude of Americans. Anxious that biological children might not be possible, she wonders, should she resent society for how it regards and treats women who try and fail to have children? Brockes deftly uses her own story to examine how and why an increasing number of women are using fertility treatments in order to become parents - and are doing it solo. Bringing the listener every step of the way with mordant wit and remarkable candour, Brockes shares the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises and, finally, joys of her momentous and excellent choice.

©2018 Emma Brockes (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Panic & Joy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.