What do you think?
Rate this book
The Toronto Embryo
Sixteen-year-old science-geek Eve returns from a service trip to discover she's pregnant. The unaware father Adam is still serving as a volunteer at the Dominican Republic orphanage where they met. They plan to exchange letters until he's back in Germany in mid-August, and can use texts and Face Time. By then, Eve will be eight-months pregnant--or not. Her best friend urges a quick abortion, while her pro-life mom and pro-choice dad insist she study both sdies of the debate. Eve's conclusion surprises her. She then stumbles upon an innovative solution--if she's willing to be the first person to try it. She is also awakened to how badly science and medicine have let women down. Eve suspects we'd be in an entirely different place if men had periods and carried unwanted embryos.This is a novel for pro-life and pro-choice women and their daughters.
234 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2019
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 14, 2019
Judith Helm's novel, The Toronto Embryo, is a book that needed to be written. It addresses the difficult subject of unwanted teenage pregnancy with sensitivity and understanding, offering a solution, besides adoption and and abortion, that not many of us have ever heard of. Unless, of course, you have struggled with this situation either in yourself or in someone close to you.
Her book will find it's primary audience among Young Adults but will also be of interest to families and close friends of any young woman (or man) struggling with an unplanned pregnancy and the accompanying heart-wrenching process of decision making. I would read it, if not for myself, but to give to anyone who might benefit from Ms. Helm's insight and her fastidious research.
Her book will find it's primary audience among Young Adults but will also be of interest to families and close friends of any young woman (or man) struggling with an unplanned pregnancy and the accompanying heart-wrenching process of decision making. I would read it, if not for myself, but to give to anyone who might benefit from Ms. Helm's insight and her fastidious research.
January 1, 2019
THE TORONTO EMBRYO by Judith Helms
Reviewed by Susan Coryell
The Toronto Embryo is a compelling YA novel with the theme of moral choice writ large from beginning to end.
16-year-old Eve Geraghty, an only-child who is intelligent and independent, becomes pregnant on a church mission trip. Close to her intellectual parents—her mother is a lawyer and her father a psychiatrist—Eve has been taught to read, evaluate and think for herself and she loves science, planning for a medical career.
With all the tools necessary to come to a decision, Eve still listens to her mother, a pro-life feminist and her father, a pro-choice Republican, weighing their feelings along with her best friend’s advice to obtain a quick abortion.
Although Adam, the 18-year old father, is equally invested in ethics and science, for her own reasons Eve decides not to inform him of the pregnancy until she has made her decision—admittedly a radicle and potentially dangerous one.
Author Helms writes with a sure hand, crafting complex characters caught in an old-fashioned dilemma. The names of the primary characters, Adam and Eve, are chosen to emphasize another major theme: Creation of a new and improved system for women caught in an unplanned pregnancy.
My only criticism in reading The Toronto Embryo is that I often felt Eve appeared more mature than her 16 years; why did Helms choose that age for her protagonist? Regardless, this novel could cross genres into New Adult for high school and adult readers.
A fast and fascinating read, The Toronto Embryo should be required reading for everyone concerned about the right to life and the right of women to control their own bodies.
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Susan Coryell
The Toronto Embryo is a compelling YA novel with the theme of moral choice writ large from beginning to end.
16-year-old Eve Geraghty, an only-child who is intelligent and independent, becomes pregnant on a church mission trip. Close to her intellectual parents—her mother is a lawyer and her father a psychiatrist—Eve has been taught to read, evaluate and think for herself and she loves science, planning for a medical career.
With all the tools necessary to come to a decision, Eve still listens to her mother, a pro-life feminist and her father, a pro-choice Republican, weighing their feelings along with her best friend’s advice to obtain a quick abortion.
Although Adam, the 18-year old father, is equally invested in ethics and science, for her own reasons Eve decides not to inform him of the pregnancy until she has made her decision—admittedly a radicle and potentially dangerous one.
Author Helms writes with a sure hand, crafting complex characters caught in an old-fashioned dilemma. The names of the primary characters, Adam and Eve, are chosen to emphasize another major theme: Creation of a new and improved system for women caught in an unplanned pregnancy.
My only criticism in reading The Toronto Embryo is that I often felt Eve appeared more mature than her 16 years; why did Helms choose that age for her protagonist? Regardless, this novel could cross genres into New Adult for high school and adult readers.
A fast and fascinating read, The Toronto Embryo should be required reading for everyone concerned about the right to life and the right of women to control their own bodies.
Highly recommended.
December 2, 2018
On first glance, a reader might think this is a YA novel, because the two main characters are teens. Set in Dominican Republic, sixteen-year-old Eve and nineteen-year-old Adam meet at an orphanage where both are volunteers. A week of nights under the stars with Adam teaching Eve about the constellations leads to experimentation and one night of sex.
Eve returns to her home and learns a few weeks later that she is pregnant. One parent is an ardent pro-lifer; the other is pro-choice. Each demands Eve learn what her options are before she decides on whether to have the baby or not.
The ensuing chapters focus on choices, until Eve learns of an experimental procedure in Toronto. Without telling Adam that she's pregnant, she and her parents travel to Toronto for the procedure.
This slim book is a must read for mothers of daughters everywhere. It addresses serious themes of life and responsibility without preaching. Women should read this, share it with their friends, and take it to heart. A book not to be overlooked but discussed and internalized.
Eve returns to her home and learns a few weeks later that she is pregnant. One parent is an ardent pro-lifer; the other is pro-choice. Each demands Eve learn what her options are before she decides on whether to have the baby or not.
The ensuing chapters focus on choices, until Eve learns of an experimental procedure in Toronto. Without telling Adam that she's pregnant, she and her parents travel to Toronto for the procedure.
This slim book is a must read for mothers of daughters everywhere. It addresses serious themes of life and responsibility without preaching. Women should read this, share it with their friends, and take it to heart. A book not to be overlooked but discussed and internalized.
January 8, 2019
Two principled and civilized parents become unglued in a pro-life/pro-choice debate brought about by their precocious and pregnant teen-age daughter, Eve. Polarized, Eve witnesses her parents' marriage disintegrate under the heavy weight of her unmade decision....
A wonderful book that brings compassion and clarity to both sides - with a possible alternative.
Loved it.
Linda Kay Simmons
A wonderful book that brings compassion and clarity to both sides - with a possible alternative.
Loved it.
Linda Kay Simmons
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews