Alex is a Substitute Page, which means she plays a key role in keeping the library tidy when we need extra help. She works with recently returned materials in the Sorter Room and helps get items back on the shelf so you can find them when you need them.
Alex recommends Swallows by Natsuo Kirino. It is available in print and as an e-audiobook on Hoopla.
Summary
Nothing has ever gone right for Riki. She left her boring hometown for a better life in Tokyo, but as a temp in the big city, she has no job security and barely scrapes by. When she decides she's ready to sell anything—even her womb—to escape the precarity of her life, an agency pairs her with a wealthy couple desperate to have a child. The match seems made in heaven. But is anything ever that simple, and can money really buy happiness?
She recommends it because...
Alex enjoyed Swallows “because it touches on a subject that I feel there isn't much fictional material on: surrogacy.” Though it is a work of fiction, Alex says, it explores a topic that is growing in importance.
“This book really brings attention to why women opt in or out of being a surrogate. I think that in consideration of the way our medical and reproductive technology continues to develop, conversations like these will become more prevalent in societies.”
Who might enjoy it?
Alex recommends this book for readers interested in contemporary fiction focused on themes of motherhood, class and body autonomy.
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