Title: An Innocent, A Broad

Author: Ann Leary

Publisher: William Morrow 2004

Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

Pages: 244

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction; Popsugar - Autobiography; Perpetual (NonAd)

When Ann Leary and her husband, then unknown actor-comedian Denis Leary, flew to London in the early nineties for a brief getaway during Ann's second trimester of pregnancy, neither anticipated the adventure that was in store for them. The morning after their arrival, Ann's water broke as they strolled through London's streets. A week later their son, Jack, was born weighing only two pounds, six ounces, and it would be five long months before mother and son could return to the States.

In the meantime, Ann became an unwitting yet grateful hostage to Britain's National Health Service -- a stranger in a strange land plunged abruptly into a world of breast pumps and midwives, blood oxygen levels, mad cow disease, and poll tax riots. Desperately worried about the health of her baby, Ann struggled to adapt to motherhood and make sense of a very different culture. At once an intimate family memoir, a lively travelogue, and a touching love story, An Innocent, a Broad is utterly engaging and unforgettable.

Our book club selection for August and I'm just not that impressed. This memoir of early motherhood in a different country until hard circumstances just didn't pull my heartstrings that much. The focus on the neonatal unit wasn't that interesting. The focus on life in a foreign city was more interesting, but was too infrequent for me to really be excited. Overall I read this, but I'm afraid it's just not for me.