A LIE SOMEONE TOLD YOU ABOUT YOURSELF

Davies’ rigorously truthful examination of fatherhood explores the fallout from an abortion and the difficulties that follow a second pregnancy.

Prenatal tests suggest—but not conclusively—that something is very wrong with their unborn child, and an unnamed couple decides on an abortion. The next pregnancy proceeds normally until the baby turns blue on the delivery table and is whisked off to intensive care. Everything seems to be fine; their son comes home after four days, and they settle down to the sleep-deprived routine of life with an infant. But they panic when he cries, and when he does fall asleep, they stand outside his door listening to make sure he’s breathing. In a third-person narrative from the father’s point of view, Davies unsentimentally captures the mind-numbing tedium coupled with blinding love that new parents feel in prose as spare as it is emotionally resonant. When the boy’s preschool teacher “has concerns” even readers without children are likely to share the parents’ dread and anguish. The narrative moves briskly through key episodes: The son gets all kinds of physical and occupational therapy, the spouses go back to work (she’s at a university press, he’s a writer and teacher), their marriage is strained, the boy’s kindergarten teacher hints he might be autistic. His parents can’t bear to get him tested: “They’ve been afraid of tests for so long. All his life.” Their uncertainty over the abortion will never be resolved (references to Schrödinger’s cat abound), and the husband’s decision to volunteer as an escort at an abortion clinic infuriates his wife, who snarls, “You act like it happened to you!” It’s a tribute to Davies’ skill and sensitivity that we feel how much they still love each other despite bad sex, jealousies, and endless worry over their son. When they finally have him tested, the results are once again ambiguous, but they are learning to accept “his normal.” A radiant conclusion affirms the daunting cost and overwhelming rewards of raising a child.

Perfectly observed and tremendously moving: This will strike a resonant chord with parents everywhere.