Goodreads asked Rachel Cathan:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Rachel Cathan My first book, 336 Hours, is a fictional diary, inspired by my and my husband's real life experiences of infertility and IVF. I wrote this story to shine a light on the secret world of suffering that all those with infertility try so hard to hide from the world. I also wanted to create some sense of camaraderie with every other woman (and man) who has found themselves in the desperate pursuit of something (whether a pregnancy or something entirely different) that is forever slipping further from their reach.
Infertility causes you to re-evaluate everything in life that once felt so certain, and it's this enforced reflection on life and soul-searching that I wanted to explore through the story. Alongside the seriousness of the subject matter, I have tried to include a healthy dose of humour. If you have an appreciation for the darker side of life, then there is certainly a great deal of humour to be found in the insanity of fertility treatment. And if there's one thing that every IVF patient needs (aside from a positive pregnancy test, that is), it's the opportunity to stand still for a moment and laugh at what something like infertility will undoubtedly do to the human condition.

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