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The Sacred Thread by Adrienne Arieff

“The author provides a smooth, compelling read that will surely interest prospective parents exploring their options for surrogacy abroad…A personal, optimistic take on a controversial topic.”

—Kirkus Reviews

In 2008, Adrienne Arieff, a thirty-six-year-old San Franciscan, traveled to India to witness her and her husband’s embryos transferred into Vaina, a twenty-six-year-old Indian woman who would be their surrogate at the world renowned Akanksha Infertility Clinic. After three miscarriages and learning the heartbreaking news that she would not be able to carry a baby to term, Adrienne ventured into the emerging world of foreign surrogacy with hope and fear. She moved to India to be with Vaina for the final months of her pregnancy and created lifelong bonds with an extraordinary new family, including her Indian doctor, nurses, expectant parents, and most of all, Vaina.

In THE SACRED THREAD: A True Story of Becoming a Mother and Finding a Family—Half a World Away (Crown Trade; On Sale: March 13, 2012; Hardcover; $24.00), Adrienne gives us a compelling, insightful, and informative chronicle of her journey into the heart of Anand, India, to become a mother. She objectively examines foreign surrogacy’s promises and challenges. Surrogacy costs about $25,000 in India, including all medical expenses and the surrogate’s fee. In the United States, the same procedure can cost up to $70,000. As a surrogate in India, Vaina made the equivalent of ten years’ salary and was able to kick-start her husband’s business, as well as support her three children. She was also given exemplary health care through the clinic, and a place to live and rest while she carried Adrienne’s twins to term. Despite this, Adrienne describes having friends and family members accuse her of exploitation.

A timely, challenging, informative, and heartwarming story, THE SACRED THREAD offers one woman’s perspective on a trend that illuminates our global interconnectedness. Above all, it is the story of a unique friendship between two women from entirely different worlds, who, with the help of a committed physician, are able to reach out to each other and cooperatively change one another’s lives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ADRIENNE ARIEFF, an expert in new media and communications, is the principal of Arieff Communications and has more than fifteen years’ professional experience in the consumer public relations and marketing world. She has freelanced for Daily Candy and C Magazine and writes a blog for her company called “Weekly Pulse.” She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Alex, and their two children, Emma and India.

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