Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood

New article name is 'Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood

Previous titles: "The Lucky Sperm" (retained in Polish version) andInconceivable Happiness

"Three Wishes" is a triple memoir written by three American journalists: Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pamela Ferdinand. It is the true story of the romantic luck that an anonymous donor’s sperm brings to three single, thirtysomething girlfriends, who pass the vials from one to the next. Soon after getting the sperm, each one stops needing it: she meets her true love --- but even then, her challenges on the road to love and motherhood have only begun.

Publishing date: April, 2010.

ISBN: 978-0-316-07906-8

The story:

The true story of close friends who find that the moment they stop waiting for fairy-tale endings, their “happily ever afters” begin.

   Carey, Beth and Pam, all successful journalists, have good luck in friends, but terrible luck in relationships. Which makes it more difficult to get what they truly desire: Children. And time is running out.
   Carey, who returns home after years of chasing headlines from Manhattan to Moscow, is the first to let go of her hope for the traditional path to motherhood. She decides to go it alone, finds her perfect anonymous donor, and buys eight vials of his sperm. Maybe it’s newfound confidence from taking control of her destiny. Maybe it’s sheer coincidence. But on the day the vials arrive, she meets a man online. They fall in love. And she gets pregnant the old-fashioned way.
   Carey passes the vials like a talisman to Beth, who has recovered from a wrenching divorce, a predatory lawyer, and poor choices made by unscrupulous financiers. But before she can use the vials, Beth meets a man ice-climbing. She, too, falls in love. And gets pregnant. So she gives the vials to Pam, an eternal romantic. Pam will never stop searching for the love of her life, but she's ready to be a single mother. But the magic strikes again. Her wish is fulfilled at an observatory under the stars.
   Is it lucky sperm? Kismet? Or shared hope, determination, and resilience that pave the way to their happy endings? Despite soured relationships, and crushing losses, three women become three families, reveling in the shared joy of love, friendship, and never losing hope.

Three Wishes aims to capture the zeitgeist of a generation of women who find success at work easier to achieve than success in love. An estimated one-half of American women contemplate single motherhood at some point.

Three Wishes sold on a pre-empt bid to Little, Brown, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, in May of 2009, as reported in the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2009/05/16/cruising_with_the_kids/

Excerpt: “Only how to get there stumped me: Do you make love happen or does love happen to you? How much was beyond my control, no matter how many blind dates I went on or wine tastings I signed up for? Was it possible to meet my true love on a seven-minute date, at a clothing optional encounter group, or swing dancing class? “In each other’s down moments, my girlfriends and I reached into the Hat of Hopeful Stories—the coworker who met her husband on the commuter train, the neighbor who had her first child at 44. We pep-talked one another into blind dates on which we were not supposed to mention the two C’s: commitment or (god forbid) children. Stick to quality not quantity, some said. Others disagreed. We weren’t necessarily desperate, but we were determined.”

Film adaptation Pending.

Representation: Denise Shannon Literary Agency

Early comments:

"This braided story—of longing, persistence, plans gone awry, the gifts of good luck—is at its center AbOUT love in its many forms. With its magic numbers and precious vials, it might be a fairy tale, were it not, in its details, so bracingly, bravely contemporary and real." — Elizabeth Graver, author of The Honey Thief and Awake

“Three Wishes is a true-life sisterhood tale of friendship, love, amazing luck, and sperm. I was drawn into each woman's life, and their quest for love and motherhood, although not necessarily in that order. A must-read for the 21st century woman on the same journey.” —Alice Domar, PhD, author of Be Happy without Being Perfect and Conquering Infertility

“Reading Three Wishes is like being let into the juiciest of confidences. I dare you not to root for these tough and gentle women.” — Jill Eisenstadt, author of From Rockaway and Kiss Out

“Three Wishes is a page-turner—full of twists and turns, great and small—that proves life is still a mystery and nothing, if we want it badly enough, is impossible.” —Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry and Piece of Work

"Riveting, seriously riveting...It's so triumphant, too, in the best possible way." —Julia Sweeney, author of God Said, Ha! and former Saturday Night Live cast member

“This is a book about how women move through the world, how we work through our losses and appreciate the moments of joy when we have them. It is a book on how to live fully.” —Michelle Cove, Director of the documentary Seeking Happily Ever After and co-author of the national best-seller I'm Not Mad I Just Hate You!: A New Understanding of Mother-Daughter Conflict

About the authors:

Carey Goldberg has been Boston bureau chief of The New York Times, Moscow correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, and most recently a health-and-science reporter at The Boston Globe. She now writes happily at home. Beth Jones is a freelance writer and educator who has contributed to The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and numerous academic journals. She plans to climb many more 200-foot ice cliffs. Pamela Ferdinand is an award-winning freelance journalist and former reporter for The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Miami Herald. She remains an incorrigible romantic. Carey and Beth live near Boston with their families; Pamela and her family live outside Chicago.