A Perfect Match

by Sinead Moriarty

Published 25 August 2005

In her second novel, A Perfect Match, Sinéad Moriarty tells the story of Emma Hamilton who embarks on the path to adopting a baby when she and her husband can't conceive. It manages to be both hilarious and incredibly moving is comparable to the writing of Marian Keyes in its ability to balancing of light and shade.

After two years of being deafened by the TICKTOCK of her biological clock and tormented by Mother Nature's refusal to grant her a baby, Emma Hamilton decides to go for the instant solution: finding a Russian baby in need of a home.

But Emma hasn't reckoned on the route to adoption being so complicated. Between proving that she's fit to be a mother (by inventing an unblemished past and discovering an unsuspected talent for housekeeping), driving her long-suffering husband insane with madcap schemes to make them the perfect would-be parents (a few Russian verbs a night and they'll be fluent in no time), and tripping over red tape every step of the way (who knew social workers could be so terrifying?) Emma finds out that adoption is far from the easy option - and that perfection has very little to do with finding the perfect match.


The Baby Trail

by Sinead Moriarty

Published 9 September 2004

Sinéad Moriarty poured all her experiences in trying to get pregnant for the first time into her debut novel The Baby Trail. Her heroine Emma Hamilton discovers that the road to conception is far from straightforward and her story is a moving and funny exploration of an experience so central to so many women's lives. The novel established Sinéad as a major talent in the tradition of Marian Keyes.

TicktockticktockTICKTOCK ... That's Emma Hamilton's biological clock you can hear. She wants a baby and she wants one NOW. But when Mother Nature refuses to play ball, Emma decides to give her a prod - or two.

Soon her life is a roller-coaster of post-sex handstands (you can't argue with gravity), hormone-inducing (sanity-reducing) drugs and a veritable army of probing specialists (torturers, more like). It's out with the booze and spontaneous sex, in with green tea and ovulation tests.

Emma couldn't have conceived that the road to pregnancy would turn into the mother of all journeys. But she's finding out that once you're on the baby trail, nothing is sacred - and one way or another, life will never be the same again ...