Book Review: ‘The Surrogate: A Novel’ By Toni Halleen

A married couple Ruth and Hal hired a surrogate to have their child and then when the baby is born all hell breaks loose. Ruth has had no luck getting pregnant and the couple put out an ad on craigslist and Cally responds and they decide to use her to carry the baby, which will have Hal’s sperm. As the day and months go along and a formal agreement is signed, there are signs that Cally may want to keep the baby. And after the baby is born Cally takes off with it. And then the search begins to find her and as the days go on things are revealed and people are rushed to the hospital and it all comes down to who has the legal rights to the baby. The book asks a lot of questions and makes the reader think about what is right. This is a common situation in these kinds of births and it’s always a heartbreaking situation. A solid if not great debut, as the story kind of veers off in a lot of different ways and not always for the better.

You can pick up The Surrogate in stores on Tuesday, November 2nd from Harper.