Popular Fiction: At 33 Emma Hamilton's biological clock was ticking so loudly that she immediately made a New Year's resolution to "get up the duff" - but making babies isn't as straightforward or as simple as she thought.
Cue a novel full of post-sex headstands, ovulation sticks, excruciatingly painful tests, draining fertility treatment, lots of tears and even more laughs.
The subject of Sinéad Moriarty's first novel couldn't be better suited to all those twenty- and thirtysomething women who form such a hefty portion of the book- buying market. When should you do it? How long will it take to do it? Will drinking green tea increase your chances of doing it? If you have ever found yourself asking any of these questions, this book is for you. If, on the other hand, you never, ever want to read about the importance of cervical mucus, no matter how funny this writer makes it sound, then best leave The Baby Trail on the shelf.
This is the kind of book Heat magazine readers and reviewers are going to love, especially since Moriarty's chatty style is not a million miles away from that of Heat favourite Marian Keyes. And while the staple chick-lit characters are all present and correct - supportive best friend, handsome husband, slightly batty mother - Moriarty seems keen to make her own mark by tackling subjects less adventurous popular fiction writers tend to steer clear of, such as masturbation and recreational pill-popping.
There is even a scene in which a Leinster rugby player is brought to The Vagina Monologues and urged to shout a slang word for the female reproductive organ out loud. This particular episode is not quite as slap-my-thigh hilarious as the author might think it is, but does deserve marks for originality.
With such a serious subject at its heart, The Baby Trail manages to be educational without sounding preachy, mainly because Emma gets most of her fertility information from the Internet. The reader can expect to learn words such as Hysterosalpingogram - even more nasty than it sounds - and lots of other stuff about the female reproductive system they definitely didn't teach in Home Economics.
We hear on the grapevine that Moriarty is currently pregnant with her first child which, given the topic of the book, must be a dream come true for the people whose job it will be to publicise this confident début. And with bookshelves everywhere buckling under the weight of identikit girl-meets-boy-loses-boy-finds-him-again tales it will be interesting to see what this fresh Irish talent comes up with next.
• Roisin Ingle is an Irish Times journalist
