Overview

An original graphic novel based on the IVF stories of its husband-and-wife authors and the 1-in-50 couples around the world like them. Conrad and Joanne met in their final year of university and have been virtually inseparable since then. For a while, it felt like they had all the time in the world. Yet now, when they are finally ready to have kids, they find that getting pregnant isn't always so easy. Ahead of them lies a difficult, expensive, and emotional journey into the world of assisted fertility, where each ""successful"" implantation is followed by a two-week wait to see if the pregnancy takes. Join Joanne and Conrad, their friends, their family, their coworkers, and a stream of expert medical practitioners as they experience the highs and the lows, the tears and the laughter in this sensitive but unflinching portrayal of the hope and heartbreak offered to so many by modern medicine. Full of beautiful and heartfelt artwork, this book will be a hit in any graphic health collection.

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9781950354634

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Reviews

This graphic novel is the delicately told story of one couple's journey through the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) process. Two-Week Wait is based on the IVF experiences of authors Luke and Kelly Jackson, and others like them. This grounding in lived experience enables the creators to combine convincing elements of everyday life and detailed information about the IVF process in an immersive and compelling way. The story of protagonists Joanne and Conrad is full of honesty and vulnerability. Both the Jacksons, as authors, and Mara Wild, as artist, are deft in their use of silent and reflective moments throughout the book. This works well for a story so much about self-reflection and finding answers to difficult questions, both individually and as a couple. Wild's art is striking in its fluidity. The texture of her line lends it a sketch-like quality that complements the openness of Joanne and Conrad's story. There is both a simplicity and a complexity in Wild's ability to convey emotion using facial expressions and body language. Her strictly limited palette and minimal use of colour enhances the novel's striking appearance and allows the linework to shine. Two-Week Wait will appeal to readers of memoir and graphic novels alike, particularly those who have enjoyed graphic memoirs like Mandy Ord's When One Person Dies the Whole World is Over. --Adam Ford, Books+Publishing

In this lovely volume, you'll encounter heartache, hope, humor, and a very true and personal exploration of the physical, emotional, and financial roller-coaster of IVF. You'll also see the graphic novel form at its finest: where every dot and line has nuance and meaning, and where big ideas and feelings are conveyed with great subtlety through spare, elegant illustrations working hand-in-hand with great dialogues. --Nicki Greenberg Compelling, harrowing... proof that comics can be much more than superhero stories--they are a dexterous art form that can effectively communicate complex, serious topics. --Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, The Guardian Full of honesty and vulnerability ... Two-Week Wait will appeal to readers of memoir and graphic novels alike. --Adam Ford, Books+Publishing

In this lovely volume, you'll encounter heartache, hope, humor, and a very true and personal exploration of the physical, emotional, and financial roller-coaster of IVF. You'll also see the graphic novel form at its finest: where every dot and line has nuance and meaning, and where big ideas and feelings are conveyed with great subtlety through spare, elegant illustrations working hand-in-hand with great dialogues. --Nicki Greenberg Compelling, harrowing... proof that comics can be much more than superhero stories--they are a dexterous art form that can effectively communicate complex, serious topics. --Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, The Guardian The Jacksons, married educators and parents of two, partner with artist Wild to tell a compassionate story about the struggle to conceive based on their own experiences and interviews with other couples who have dealt with fertility issues... Wild's loose, fluid, warmly colored pencil art perfectly complements the script; in swooping curves and simple shapes, she draws emotive characters in domestic settings that look lived-in. Gentle and empathetic, this enters a growing trying-to-conceive graphic medicine genre, recalling Sarah Glidden's and Lucy Knisley's work, and offers a touchstone for any reader dealing with IVF. --Publishers Weekly The intimate struggles of a husband and wife desperate to become parents might not be universal literary fare, but with millions of couples worldwide attempting conception via IVF, Two-Week Wait will surely, deservedly find sympathetic audiences... an insightful, moving tale. --Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness Full of honesty and vulnerability ... Two-Week Wait will appeal to readers of memoir and graphic novels alike. --Adam Ford, Books+Publishing Anyone looking for the thoughts of someone who has gone through the journey of trying to conceive, infertility testing, of deciding what treatments to pursue, of determining to continue the path, and IVF or is looking for tips on what to do and not to do when talking about infertility and IVF will find a good resource in this book ... Mara Wild does a fantastic job at providing context to the story and illustrating the invisible emotions and pain ... It gives the reader an empathetic look at the experience. I recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about the infertility and IVF process, especially from a mental health perspective. --Alice Jaggers, Graphic Medicine Two-Week Wait is as much a medical text as it is a depiction of the emotional, corporeal and financial vicissitudes, that are commonplace in patient descriptions of assisted reproductive technologies. --Jennifer Takhar, Graphic Medicine

Author Information

Luke C Jackson is an author, teacher and researcher based in Melbourne, Australia. Luke C Jackson is a writer of novels, screenplays, games, and graphic novels, including The Brownout Murders and Two-Week Wait, both of which have been released by Scribe Publications. As a writer and researcher of texts, he is interested in how stories can be written for different media. It was to research The Brownout Murders that he was awarded a Creative Fellowship by the State Library of Victoria in 2019. Kelly Jackson is a teacher and educational writer. A graduate of the University of Melbourne with a major in Art History, she is the co-author of both The Brownout Murders and Two-Week Wait. Mara Wild lives and works in Hamburg, Germany, as a freelance illustrator and animator, mostly doing multimedia artwork. She met Luke while studying abroad in Melbourne, taking one of his classes.

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