In light of the recently re-ignited controversy over women choosing to be full-time mothers rather than devoting themselves to competing in the workplace, the theme in my upcoming novel, Boundaries, of parenthood vs. career may be of interest to readers who face this dilemma or who have already made their choices in this regard. (See “The Retro Wife,” New York Magazine 3/17/13,http://nymag.com/news/features/retro-wife-2013-3/, and the discussion on CBS 3/20/13 on “Leaning Out,”http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50143214n; Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In and “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,”The Atlantic July/August 2013 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/.
The main character in Boundaries, Kaia Matheson, resents the choices her mother has made in abandoning her in furtherance of a high-powered career in New York. Although Kaia plans to become a lawyer, she wants to have children, too. Both she and Mark face difficult decisions about parenthood and lifestyle that may entail sacrifice and compromise. One of the themes of the novel is thus the conflict between having a highly successful career and enjoying a satisfying home life—for both men and women.