Matilda is pregnant and wants to abort, a near impossible exercise in an America that has banned the practice (she considers throwing herself down a flight of stairs) while Susan desires couple counselling with her husband (who teaches at the same school as Ro). The Daughter’s story (her name is Matilda) and The Wife’s story (her name is Susan) are compelling but far more familiar. Ro’s story – as presented by Zumas – isn’t something I’ve seen portrayed with this much attention to detail in a fictional context. I’ve focussed quite a bit on The Biographer because her desire to be a mother and her infertility issues hit close to home. The Mender, though, doesn’t prescribe drugs… at least not of the synthesised in a lab variety: Ro Stephens (The Biographer) visits The Mender who, aside from tending her goats, also provides gynaecological examinations. It should come as no surprise as to who is writing the biography. Between each chapter is a fifth female voice, small excerpts from a biography of Eivør Mínervudottír, a 19th Century polar explorer (though not based on an actual person). We begin with The Biographer – who, as noted above, wishes to become pregnant – we then meet The Mender – who lives on her own with two goats in the middle of nowhere – followed by The Daughter – who loses her virginity in the back of a car – and finally The Wife – who has an important question to ask her husband that she keeps putting off. The novel provides us with four female viewpoints that alternate (more or less) sequentially. Having skimmed the back cover copy – not something I generally do – I know that Red Clocks is set in an America (Oregon to be precise) where abortion and in-vitro fertilisation is illegal, and embryos are granted a right to life and liberty.
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