Rebecca and Peter are a happily-married, career-driven couple, content in their long work days with an agreement that this is not a marriage for children. Peter works hard as a district attorney, moving his way up, and Rebecca has paid her dues to work towards becoming the first female partner in her law firm. She has neither time nor desire to be a mother. However, as she starts to suspect she's pregnant, she finds herself weighing her options and wondering whether their agreement to stay childless is as concrete as she originally thought. Meanwhile, Peter has encountered a case that involves live births at an abortion clinic and he and the detective on the case are gathering evidence to bring the doctor to trial. As Peter and Rebecca are both dealing with the idea of new lives, how will this affect their marriage, their careers, and their faith?
This was a hard book to read, but very well written. The idea of late-term abortions, live births, and infants left to die is hard enough to read about in a fictional setting, but knowing that a lot of the situation was based on real research and was very real to life, made it that much harder to process mentally. I had to take about a week off of reading altogether once I finished this book because it sat that heavily on my heart and on my mind. The book did not take the idea of abortion lightly; although the book clearly came on the side of life being a precious gift from God, it was not harsh in its treatment of women who'd opted for the procedure. Even as Peter and Rebecca worked through what a child might mean to their lives and their careers, it was vulnerable, and real, and not an easy decision.
I give this book 4 stars, not without reservation. This was a tough book to read, and I don't think it's for everybody. However, the fact that the author tackled this topic, and tackled it well, makes it stand out to me.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.
You can find An Accidental Life HERE.
You can find the author's site HERE.
