Unexpected Child

Lesbian News

[Grossman’s] ability to weave a powerful and emotionally extravagant tale of a young woman finding a powerful maternal urge inside her is exceptional….Grossman’s dialogue is crisp, lively, and just the right balance of cyncism and naivete to be credible. There is a deliriously funny scene between Meg and her therapist, Libby, in which Libby confronts Meg over her continued denial about her mother’s alcoholism. ‘Of course she’s an alcoholic. . .you believe this ‘only on Sunday’ business?’ Pressing the issue, Libby dismissively adds, “so she’s an alcoholic, wallowing about with the other swine.’ On a roll, she exaggerates her point, “. . .so she’s an alcoholic. Half the people in this country are alcoholics. Some entrepreneur needs to set up recovery centers in the malls. You know, little kiosks. The alkies could stop in for a quick run through the twelve steps. Meanwhile, what are you going to do about Mom?’ The potency of Meg’s feelings for Kimble is elegantly portrayed as Meg tries to explain to the child’s grandmother why she, Meg, would be a better mother than Mrs. Marzola. “. . .I had this very odd experience of backing up and seeing the two of us as if we were in a painting. Did you ever look at two people in a painting. . .and they are just two people in a moment of time, but there is something so rock hard and permanent about the two of them that you feel comforted just looking?’ As she explains what she believes Kimble’s father, Barry would have wanted, and how he tried to parent Kimble as best he could, Meg says, “. . .there is this terrible chaos in Kimble’s universe now. Somebody has to make it right for her. Somebody has to give her gravity. . .I can stop the damage.” That episode is exquisite.. . .Unexpected Child is a finely-crafted story.

Martha Miller

Grossman paints a realistic picture of a child who has had the kind of trauma that Kimble Toffler has. This author knows children. In fact, all the characters in the novel are real; even bad ones are well-rounded and sympathetic. . .In Unexpected Child, Grossman serves up a different kind of lesbian novel and an unexpectedly good read.
—Lambda Book Report

Richard Labonté

Patricia Grossman's clever, heartwarming story is smartly cut with tart, straightforward writing and a no-nonsense precision about her mix of surprisingly well-rounded characters. . . .[The ending is] so honest that only a cynic could put down this novel without a smile. . . . A savory read.
—Planet Out

Scott

At 37, Meg remains single, a lesbian who enjoys her indepedent life as a self-supporting artist/potter in New York. Through her volunteer efforts to help AIDS victims, she meets Kimble, not yet five, whose mother had succumbed to the virus. Her father has little time left, and the child’s maternal grandmother, Shirley, her only other blood relation, seems to be off gambling in Atlantic City, leaving Meg to look after Kimble for the duration. This interlude is extended as Shirley treats her friends to an impromptu vacation in Palm Springs with her Atlantic City winnings. As the child grows on her, Meg discovers previously unsuspected maternal feelings, emotions she finds both exhilarating and frightening because of her own unresolved tensions with her wealthy, Park Avenue mother. But how can she turn little orphaned Kimble over to the state system of foster homes? Determined to shortcut the procedures and rules as well as her own internal qualms, Meg takes on much more than the task of parenting in this engrossing tale of love and family.
—ALA Booklist