Lucy Ferriss shares the bizarre story of how her novel's release ended up being barely released at all and the “Strange Miracle” that 25 years later brought her novel, The Misconceiver, back. Read all about Lucy's saga of a book heralded by all yet virtually unavailable for a quarter century in LITHUB.

Publisher's note: It doesn't escape our notice the irony of how an unfounded legal threat could shelve a novel about women's loss of rights and personal autonomy (and written by a woman, no less).

Join Lucy Ferriss, award-winning author of The Misconceiver, and historian of reproductive rights Rickie Solinger for an important conversation on reproductive justice in the wake of the Supreme Court's rulings affecting Roe v. Wade. Ferriss' novel, originally released in 1997 and republished this year by Wandering Aengus Press, is a chilling tale of survival in a post- Roe v. Wade world. Ferriss is donating proceeds from sales of the book to benefit reproductive justice. Don't miss this crucial, pre-election conversation hosted by the Sister District Project. Registration is free, and with a $25 donation, you'll receive a signed copy of Lucy's "prescient, epochal novel."

Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 8-9:00 pm EDT
Click here to learn more and register.

After the Supreme Court's decision earlier this year regarding Roe v. Wade, several savvy readers, including The Washington Post's book reviewer Ron Charles, remembered Lucy Ferriss' novel, The Misconceiver, released in 1997 and set in a post Roe-v.-Wade United States. Praising it as a "startling novel," Charles writes, "As a consequence, The Misconceiver isn’t merely a polemical recitation of misogynist horrors – although it includes plenty of those horrors. Instead, the novel offers a challenging exploration of one woman's struggle to work through the profound moral dilemmas of her life."

The Times of London describes The Misconceiver as a tense thriller. "The Misconceiver is primarily a powerful novel of dystopia. Ferriss has taken seriously the threats of the religious fundamentalists, pessimistic economists and anti-feminists . . . living in the shadow of the backlash against feminism. How much support can women give to each other now? And can women be trusted to stick together in such a misogynist climate? Ferriss is a fine writer, and in this dark and starkly realistic tale, she answers all her own questions, pulling no punches."

Wandering Aengus Press is honored to re-release this title, which the editors feel offers an even-handed treatment of the personal, medical, and legal issues  surrounding abortion, and envisions a dystopian future that looms ever closer. A must-read, no matter where you stand on the issue of abortion.