Conceiving Luc: A Family Story

Though it offers readers an emotion-drenched narrative about family bonds, this collaboration elucidates very little about the larger issues of medical ethics raised by the story. Freilicher and her husband, David, wanted desperately to have a child--and they didn't want to adopt. When the traditional method failed, they tried in-vitro fertilization. When that failed twice, they were ready to give up. But Scheu, Freilicher's cousin, offered to be the gestational carrier of David and Liza's baby. The tale of how that baby, Luc, came into the world is told by Freilicher, Scheu and Wetanson (Freilicher's mother). As children, Freilicher and Scheu were ""best friends forever"" but they had a falling out during adolescence. The writing is riddled with clich s and a rather maudlin emotionalism, and some readers may be irked that Scheu's offer seems to have been motivated as much by her own psychological needs as by generosity, in particular her desire to come to terms with the death of her own mother. In a letter to Freilicher, she wrote: ""You will cure my pain and I will cure yours. Then you and I can stand together and stop being the hateful brats we are."" Most readers, however, will be moved by the ties that bind Freilicher and Scheu and their respective (and mutual) extended families, and by the overwhelming level of familial love that runs through the book. 8 pages b&w photos not seen by PW. (May)