This is why I feel strongly that a new self-published book entitled Night Sweats: An Unexpected Pregnancy, by an Iowa librarian named Laura Crossett, is something that belongs in every library in America — academic, school, public, and medical. Crossett is an interesting blend of contradictions. She’s religious and irreverent; courageous and scared; rational and emotional; clear thinking and muddled; in love and out of love. There is, however, one aspect of her personality that is clear and constant: she is a gifted writer who is able to clearly articulate all the conflicting aspects of her personal dilemma with grace, wit, candor, pain, drama, and, most of all, humor.
Will Manley, in Booklist

So, I wrote a book…

Here’s a little bit about it:

Laura Crossett was thirty-five years old, one month into a relationship, and six months into a new job when she sat in a staff bathroom and looked at a stick that told her something she already suspected.

Almost half the pregnancies that occur in the United States each year are unplanned. Some of them happen to married women, some to unmarried; some occur due to failure to use contraception; some due to contraceptive failure. Some happen to women who hope one day to have children; some to women who never wanted children at all.

In a political climate that polarizes around issues of sexuality and choice and a popular culture that glamorizes pregnancy and fetishizes motherhood, we rarely hear the stories of women who did not seek to become pregnant. Night Sweats is one of them.

Here’s the prologue as it first appeared on my blog.

front cover of night sweats, showing an old couch in muted light

You can buy it…

as a paperback from Prairie Lights in Iowa City or New Bo Books in Cedar Rapids
as a paperback for bookstores and libraries via Ingram
as a paperback from Lulu
as an EPUB ebook from Lulu (which will work on any ereader except a Kindle)
as a paperback from Amazon
as a Kindle book from Amazon
as a paperback from Barnes & Noble
as an ebook from Barnes & Noble
directly from me (if you can come pick it up in Iowa City, or if you’d like to pay extra for postage — please contact me for details)

You can borrow it…

from the Coralville Public Library
from a bunch of other libraries in WorldCat (if your library isn’t there, ask them about interlibrary loan!)

Reviews and more…

Rob Cline reviewed it in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. (Full disclosure: I know Rob, but I had no idea he was writing a review.)
Donna Seaman reviewed it for Booklist Online.
Will Manley wrote a Manley Arts column about it in Booklist.
Rachel Walden reviewed it for Our Bodies, Our Blog. (Full disclosure: I sent her an ebook copy.)
Jenna Freedman has written a review. (Full disclosure: Jenna is a friend, and I contributed to a zine she edited.)
Lucy King reviewed it. (Full disclosure: Lucy and I are sort of related, although we have never met.)
Booklist columnist Will Manley says you should buy it.
Walt Crawford has written a hard-hitting review. (Full disclosure: I once shared a cab with Walt, and we know each other online.)
Night Sweats on GoodReads!
Night Sweats on LibraryThing!
Night Sweats in Open Library!
Discussion questions for Night Sweats

Errata

Early editions misspelled Inskeep in the acknowledgments. It has one n, not two.
EPUB version purchased prior to July 1, 2013 are missing a couple of lines. Please contact me for a free replacement!
Other typos are my fault, not that of my brilliant friends and copy editors.

Appearances

As life allows, I’m happy to come talk to your group or book club or whatever, in person if you are local or via Skype or whatever if you are not. I occasionally also do readings and book signings, which are announced via the usual social media channels and also on my blog, if I’m really organized. Please contact me if you are interested in hosting any of the above!

Contact

email: newrambler at the gmails