cover image Angel Wings: A Story of Love, Faith, Infertility, Surrogacy, and Not Giving Up Hope

Angel Wings: A Story of Love, Faith, Infertility, Surrogacy, and Not Giving Up Hope

Stephanie O’Hara. Plum Bay Publishing, $24.99 (248p) ISBN 978-1-73488-481-4

In this cheerful debut, O’Hara describes how friendships and her Christian faith have buoyed her through infertility and expanding her family with the help of a gestational surrogate. O’Hara and her husband, after the birth of their first child, suffered seven pregnancy losses. A friend volunteered to be a surrogate, but after she didn’t respond to treatment, O’Hara and her husband turned to surrogacy agencies to find a carrier. Tiffany, an experienced surrogate who approached the work as a ministry, gave hope to the O’Haras and eventually gave birth to twins. During O’Hara’s struggles to have another child, her pastor supported her in establishing a daily prayer ritual, a life coach taught her to focus her energy on the positive, and friends prayed with her or surprised her with impromptu outings for karaoke. Though faith is an important aspect of O’Hara’s life, her account offers little theological nuance, providing only the answer “God had invented science” from a conversation with her pastor on the morality of surrogacy and in-vitro fertilization. O’Hara’s unquestioned faith and tenacity in seeing the positive in any situation shine throughout. Christians who have struggled with loss will appreciate O’Hara’s remarkable story. (Self-published)