The Kingmaker’s Daughter Photo

In The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory the main character, Anne Neville, has secondary infertility.  This being the 15th century, she doesn’t have the option of IVF.  Instead she tries to get pregnant by drinking nasty potions and wearing smelly herbs around her neck.  She also contemplates calling on a wise woman with dark, magical powers to create a baby for her. A boy baby would be preferable to doubly insure her husband’s male line in case their three year old son dies.  My husband also wanted a male heir to continue his eight generation, unbroken male line from a famous Jewish scholar called the Vilna Gaon.  I didn’t know any witches to call on to cast the appropriate spell, but I did choose to use a donor egg inserted with my husband’s sperm in order to continue his illustrious gene pool and to provide me with a much desired infant.