Review: Heart Strong by Ellidy Pullin with Alley Pascoe

Ellidy was living the dream. Despite growing not believing in true love or happy endings, she found herself living on the Gold Coast in a blissful, happy relationship with her partner Olympic snowboarder Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin. They were planing to have children. Then the life they had built together came to a tragic and unexpected end when Chumpy passed away in a spearfishing accident. Within hours, Ellidy made a surprising decision. If she couldn't have a baby with Chumpy, then she would have one for him.

I am not going to pass judgement on parts of this one--the ethics of post mortem sperm retrieval or the author sharing the story so publicly online--because well, it's not my journey. Also her life is so far removed from my own experiences that I barely feel qualified. So I will leave that aside. Although marketed as the story of Pullin's pregnancy, the focus was a bit choppy, at times feeling more like a biography of Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin written by his partner and his father, than it did a story of grief with an unusual outcome. The writing itself is very light and on par with what I would expect to see in a copy of That's Life! or another publication that tells tragic life stories in a slightly romanticised and highly accessible way. 

While Heartstrong was not for me, I can see how it would appeal to those who have followed Ellidy Pullin's jouney online or who have experienced the unexpected loss of a partner at a relatively young age.

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