Designer Genes

Emma Hannigan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842233823 ISBN 13: 9781842233825

Publisher: Poolbeg Press Ltd, 2010

Emily Cusack's got it all sorted. A loving husband, two adorable kids and a gorgeous home. All she needs now is an au pair, for life to be truly perfect. Her friend Susie is content too. A brilliant psychotherapist, she's got an elegant flat, a wardrobe full of ball-busting suits, a sleek sports car and doesn't need a man, thank you very much. The only jeans the friends normally encounter are the designer version. Then Emily learns about genes of a different kind and why she could be a carrier of a cancer-causing one. Emily doesn't take much lying down and deals with this in her decisive way. But can her marriage survive the aftershock? Emily's news rocks Susie and makes her take a long hard look at her own self-sufficient life. Brought up by her loving but ditzy single mum, Susie has never known her father. Now she decides to do something about it. But she's in for more than she bargains for! One thing's for sure - life will never be the same again after a trip on this roller-coaster of discovery.

Review:

'An extraordinary story' --Ryan Tubridy, RTE Radio 1

About the Author:

Designer Genes is the first novel from Wicklow woman Emma Hannigan, who, like Emily, discovered that she was carrying the BrCA1 gene. She had just turn 32 and has two children. The only way to deal with this was brutal: double mastectomy and removal of both ovaries. Utterly undaunted, Emma said, they can cut me up without anaesthetic, with a rusty spoon if they like; I want to be here for my kids. So started an incredible journey through genetic screening, body-altering surgery and more time wearing hospital gowns than she'd like to remember.