Judith Henry Wall

To a penniless twenty-year-old like Jamie Long, surrogate motherhood seemed both an act of altruism and a financial opportunity. But once pregnant and under contract to Amanda Hartmann, the head of a famous evangelical family, Jamie realizes that she's getting more than she bargained for. Whisked away to the vast, isolated family ranch, she's closely supervised and carefully cut off from the outside world. She learns the family's dark secrets -- and sees the enormity of their ruthlessness. When Jamie hears Amanda's plan to claim the baby as her natural-born child, she begins to suspect that her own life is in danger and resolves to flee. Alone with a tiny newborn, she calls on the one man in the world she can trust -- her high school crush, Joe Brammer. Their love unites them in a struggle to escape, and soon enough their flight becomes a fight for their lives. Brilliantly weaving some of today's most controversial social issues into a captivating page-turner, The Surrogate is Judith Henry Wall's greatest triumph to date.

A Novel

The Surrogate

Writing in the bestselling tradition of Barbara Delinsky and Patricia Gaffney, Judith Henry Wall, in her new novel, The Girlfriends Club, has crafted a wry and moving story of four women who have been best friends since childhood. Through the years, and through many spiritual crises -- including the recent divorces that three of them have endured -- they have given one another emotional support. But when they are forced to share a secret that threatens to disrupt their lives, each of them begins to wonder if this bond of friendship that has held for almost four decades will be strong enough to withstand the strain. On the eve of Mary Sue Prescott's forty-fifth birthday, she is joined by her three closest friends, Gretchen, Pamela, and Dixie, at the lakeside cabin that has been their refuge for years. This meeting of "The Girlfriends Club" -- as they jokingly call themselves -- is not, however, strictly a celebration, since the following morning, Mary Sue is scheduled to undergo a mastectomy. At the same time that they are dealing with Mary Sue's operation, another crisis arises, requiring the three women to make a decision that results in a haunting and terrifying secret. How these friends individually deal with their terrible secret, while going on with their lives, is a reflection of how each has coped with the traumas and stresses of the past. Pamela, the only one of the four still married, lives in a state of perpetual fear that she will upset or embarrass her older husband, a respected judge, who is both rich and controlling, and who disapproves of Pamela's "divorcée" friends. Gretchen is fearful as well, but her anxiety stems from her concern about her future following a particularly acrimonious divorce that has left her both bitter and distrustful of all men. Dixie, more amicably divorced, has gone on with her life -- at least up to a point. There is a man in her life again, but she keeps him a secret from her friends because she has broken one of their taboos by having an affair with a married man. For Mary Sue, divorce has been especially painful, as she has not stopped caring for her former husband. A devoted wife and mother, she was devastated when he left her for a sexy, much more sophisticated widow. Now, afraid not to have a man in her life, Mary Sue has talked herself into dating again, even if it means settling for an abusive relationship. How these women deal with their personal secrets and fears, and with the trials and tribulations of growing older and trying to find a place in a world in which everyone seems to be younger and prettier and sexier, is at the heart of The Girlfriends Club. It is a story told with compassion, humor, and absolute truth, one that explores the dynamics of friendship, and the secrets both shared and held in their hearts, as four women learn that it is never too late to live, to trust, and to love again.

The Girlfriends Club

Blood Sisters

Story of four women who have been best friends since childhood. Through the years, and through many spiritual crises -- including the recent divorces that three of them have endured -- they have given one another emotional support. But when they are forced to share a secret that threatens to disrupt their lives, each of them begins to wonder if this bond of friendship that has held for almost four decades will be strong enough to withstand the strain.

The story of three generations of a family is set against a backdrop of the second-half of the twentieth century and begins with sisters Justine and Martha Claire, the former a member of the Women's Army Corps in WWII, the latter a woman unsuccessfully longing for a child.

My Mother's Daughter

The friendship between Effie, Stella and Kate sustains them as they pursue careers in academia, professional golf, and big business

Love and Duty

Twenty-five years after a childhood friendship is shattered by Gina Kay's elopement with Rhonda's boyfriend, Rhonda is called back to their Texas hometown to attend the boyfriend's funeral, an event that reunites the friends and prompts a conciliatory visit to New York City. Original. 30,000 first printing.

Judith Henry Wall

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