Reviews of Laurene's Book Foreign Body - What If It Happens To You?

This Review is by Sharon Sforzini Grant, a Retired Educator from Bethesda, Maryland

The book jacket cover, designed by author Laurene in close collaboration with the young graphic artist Daniel Heijink, is the place to start. As the reader ponders the colors and design, an artistic narrative begins to emerge. Attention to detail enables the reader to begin a journey seeking answers to the author's subtitle question: what if it happens to you?

The chosen format for this fact-based, fictional novella gives the author sufficient opportunity to fully present and explore her themes forming the storyline, while doing so in measured cadence. Laurene is a published author of verse, as well as prose, so here, her poetic writing style enhances the flow of the story, taking the reader into a young marriage, still in transition from aloneness to companionship. How this couple faces the uncertainty of an unknown future is tempered by the collision of diverse upbringing, cultural traditions, mythical superstitions and the ever-evolving scientific field of medicine.

The extended family has, at times, immeasurable control, and is both supportive advocate and fierce denier. The reader is drawn into awareness of decades-old secrets leading to a hidden mystery the family must unravel.

Laurene's cast of characters is skillfully depicted; so much so, the reader is able to anticipate the speaker's identity just by the fluent dialogue and the tone the words put forth. Some characters come to new understandings, albeit slowly, whereas others resist with toxic verbality. The reader carefully listens, and the characters become identifiable and recognizable.

It is worth noting here that this reviewer found significance in the author's choice of the present tense, rather than the past tense, in skillfully crafting the subtitle. With a career history in the medical field, Laurene is unveiling for the reader a medical "possibility" that could happen. With Laurene's timely novella, current supporting medical facts are the foundation of this story. This author is not posing a question that has no answer. The reader may expect this journey of new awareness both enlightening and enjoyable.

The author of this comprehensive review wishes to remain anonymous, but they have given permission for Laurene to publish it.

Foreign Body: What if it happens to you? is the second book and first novella by the Trinidadian British author and poet Laurene. With its focus on a rare medical anomaly, the work draws heavily on the author's background as a clinical nurse specialist. The main protagonists of the work are a young professional couple, Marcia and Marcus, who are clearly devoted to each other. The book opens with a shock as Marcia suddenly gives birth, even though she has displayed no symptoms of pregnancy. Her husband, the somewhat weak-willed Marcus, unquestioningly accepts the baby as their own, even though he was rendered infertile by mumps as an adolescent. However, this leads to conflict with Marcus's dominating Catholic family, which is all the more damaging given that Marcia has no family of her own. Although his sister Claudia, a medical doctor, supports her brother and sister-in-law in their firm denials that any impropriety had taken place, Marcus's domineering mother seems hellbent on proving that Marcia was unfaithful. This leads to unpleasant questions regarding the baby's paternity which go all the way to the highest courts and lead to a dramatic and unexpected conclusion. In dealing with these issues, the work also highlights many other topics of relevance to today's society, thus providing a gripping portrait of a family in crisis.

Although at times there is an impression that certain aspects of the book could have been explored in further detail, the novella’s fast pace ensures that it is, quite simply, an enthralling read. It is well-written, and one particularly noteworthy aspect is how complex terms relating to medicine are explained clearly and concisely, thus making them accessible to the non-specialist. As such, though this is a work of fiction, the events depicted in the novel are grounded solidly in the medical literature, thus testifying to the level of research and analysis that the author has undertaken. Therefore, in terms of its universal appeal, Foreign Body: What if it happens to you? is a complete and insightful portrayal of a rare and complex medical issue that could potentially affect any family across the globe.