Baby Boat: A Memoir of Adoption - Hardcover

Patty Dann's The Baby Boat is a poignant, evocative account of one couple's journey to adoptive parenthood. Dann's husband, Willem, is a Dutch citizen given to enchantingly incorrect speech patterns (he calls pinecones "pineapples," and, in a gesture that speaks to the depth and respect in their relationship, Dann never corrects him). "On our first date, my husband asked in his charming Dutch accent, 'Do you want to get children?'" Dann writes, explaining that Willem means "have" children. Yet Willem is inadvertently correct: after battling unsuccessful infertility treatments, the couple begins trying to adopt. Written in journal format, The Baby Boat chronicles the medical treatments, long episodes of waiting and delay, heartbreak when their promised daughter dies unseen, and the trip she and Willem make to Lithuania to claim their seven-month-old son. Dann's spare, understated writing style well suits this journey from emptiness to anticipation to sorrow to joy, as she and Willem finally "get" a baby. --Ericka Lutz

Patty Dann is the author of THE GOLDFISH WENT ON VACATION: A MEMOIR OF LOSS and THE BABY BOAT: A MEMOIR OF ADOPTION. She has also published two novels, SWEET & CRAZY and MERMAIDS. Her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. MERMAIDS was made into a movie, starring Cher, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci.
 
 Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, O Magazine, The Oregon Quarterly, Redbook, More, Forbes Woman, The Writer's Handbook, Poets & Writers Magazine, and " Dirt: An Anthology About Keeping House," and "This I Believe: On Motherhood."
 
  She has served as a judge for the Scholastic Young Writers Awards. She has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Oregon. Dann has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the West Side YMCA. She was cited by New York Magazine as one of the "Great Teachers of NYC."