The Waiting Room

Name: The Waiting Room
Brand: HarperCollins Publishers
Price: 16.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

Stories of Love, Loss and Hope on the Path to Parenthood

By: Audrey Ward

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eBook | 21 May 2026

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Available: 21st May 2026

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The path to parenthood is deeply personal. When that journey twists and stalls, it can feel impossibly lonely. Yet connection, courage and hope can be found, and often in the stories of those who have taken the road before us.

The Waiting Room exists because too many people walk through infertility, loss and longing in silence. Every day in the UK, there are 273 miscarriages, 7 stillbirths, 10 terminations for medical reasons and 5 neonatal deaths. Globally, 1 in 6 couples face infertility. These numbers represent not statistics but stories that deserve to be heard.

And yet most of us never talk about it. The silence around fertility challenges keeps people isolated. So, what happens after the failed pregnancy tests, the first miscarriage, the unsuccessful round of IVF, the ectopic pregnancy or the stillbirth? What's it like to adopt a child, rely on a surrogate, an egg or a sperm donor, or come to terms with a life without children?

Drawing on dozens of honest, hopeful accounts, former The Sunday Times journalist Audrey Ward curates a selection of stories from those whose journeys to (or away from) parenthood were anything but simple - including her own.

Join us in The Waiting Room - a place for anyone who has ever felt that parenthood is painfully out of reach, and for those who are ready to change how we speak about it.