The Stork Club

The bestselling author of Beaches and I'll Be There is right on the money with this clever, timely exploration of the emotional turmoil engendered by the brave new world of contemporary baby-making. ``I was thinking today as I was driving here about what each of us has gone through to . . . seduce the stork to visit our lives,'' says Rick, a pudgy, womanizing Hollywood producer pushing 50 who navigates the choppy seas of open adoption to become a single father. The support group he addresses includes Judith, who had two girls by artificial insemination; Mitch and Lainie, who forked over the keys to their hearts to a surrogate mother; and wisecracking TV writers Ruthie and Shelly, two wonderfully drawn diehard friends, one straight and one gay, who teamed up to have a child. Their therapist, Barbara, wrestles with her own parenting issues: her pitch-perfect adult daughter flounces in and out of her comforting orbit, while her husband wishes for one more baby just as their children are finally leaving the nest. The mix is hilarious, maudlin, warmhearted and surprisingly genuine in its emotions, until Dart overwhelms the narrative balance she has established by introducing soap-opera contrivances in the final chapters. Literary Guild alternate. (Oct.)