The Power of Two (Lisa Messenger & Sarah Megginson, Pantera)
Co-authoring a book is an intimate venture, but for Lisa Messenger and Sarah Megginson, The Power of Two is just the latest in a series of incredibly personal journeys the pair have shared. Their memoir tells the remarkable story of Messenger’s eight-year fertility journey, which culminated with a selfless gift from Megginson—an offer of altruistic surrogacy that led to the birth of baby Hugo. The Power of Two is told through alternating perspectives and reads like a candid podcast conversation between friends, despite the heavy subject. The book explores the authors’ 14-year friendship, and takes in career movements, spiritual awakenings, natural disasters and fertility struggles. Each chapter ends with neat ‘takeaways’ Messenger and Megginson use to convey life lessons to the reader, such as, ‘Stay open to opportunities’ and ‘You can have it all—or at least, bits and pieces of it all’. Through a frank and vulnerable tone, the co-authors aim to break the stigma around infertility, an experience they argue is statistically widespread (citing Monash University research that finds 285 miscarriages occur every day in Australia), yet severely overlooked. At its core, The Power of Two is a reminder that ‘kindness begets kindness’ and a heartfelt story of unconditional love in all forms—between mother and unborn child, husband and wife, and most importantly here, female friends.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Eman Mourad is an Australian-Egyptian emerging writer based on Gadigal land. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews