A Hidden Fate
A HIDDEN FATE
She Writes Press, Fall 2026
Newlyweds Julia and Matt move to Baltimore in the 1980s, anticipating a vibrant beginning to married life. They expect to be happy pursuing challenging graduate studies in fields they love, sharing a home for the first time, building new friendships, and moving toward realizing Julia’s long-held dream of becoming a mother.
When harsh revelations about Julia’s family—with dire potential implications for her health and their future—rock their careful plans, the couple faces agonizing uncertainty. Desires and convictions pull them toward starkly different paths, each path possibly leading to ruin.
Efron’s poignant tale charts the couple’s struggle to protect the fragile, fierce love that first bound them together as they navigate impossible choices.
Praise for A Hidden Fate
“For many women, the longing for motherhood collides with harsh biological realities. Efron’s engrossing, suspenseful novel follows one woman‘s path as she confronts that collision—and the impossible choices she must make.”
—Monica Starkman MD author of The End of Miracles: A Novel and Psychology Today columnist
“Sensitive and emotional, A HIDDEN FATE explores the life of a young married couple as they struggle with the threat of a devastating disease that could be passed to their unborn child. Peyser’s characters are so well drawn that the reader will feel the intensity of their relationship as they travel the tenuous journey of heartache and self-discovery.”
—Terry Persun, winner of three Book Excellence Awards
“Sensitive and emotional, A HIDDEN FATE explores the life of a young married couple as they struggle with the threat of a devastating disease that could be passed to their unborn child. Peyser’s characters are so well drawn that the reader will feel the intensity of their relationship as they travel the tenuous journey of heartache and self-discovery.”
—Terry Persun, winner of three Book Excellence Awards
“Family secrets, the rights of parents, maternal love and the importance of living one’s life to the fullest all come into play as Julia, the protagonist in Carol Efron’s intriguing novel, faces an excruciating and nearly impossible decision.”
—Jerry Burger PhD author of Shadows of 1915: A Novel
“Newlyweds move to a new and vibrant life: city; home; challenging graduate studies and their own future together. Like paper in wind everything is challenged by shocking news—old medical trauma gallops into present life and Julia must balance health and hope with a dark and cruel history. The hardest thing is to think what to do. With tender yet clear-eyed intelligence, Efron holds the reader to the novel’s question: does one insist on learning the future when the answer may be devastating?”
—Sandra Scofield, author of Beyond Deserving: a Novel and The Scene Book
“Psychiatrist Carol Efron brings her unique experiences and perspectives to bear in crafting a family drama about closely guarded secrets and life-altering decisions. The characters in this heart-breaking novel tale confront Freud’s dictum that “biology is destiny” with fear, courage, and love, as they grapple with the dilemmas that will one day face us all. A most compelling story.”
—Jason Brandt, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
“A powerful, complex story about newlyweds making agonizing choices after a frightening revelation of the wife’s health risks. The stakes are enormous. In her compassionate novel, Efron skillfully probes the psyche of a woman struggling with herself, her husband, and others in wrenching decisions that will affect them all.”
—Ed Levy, creator of the musicals Bystander, Trifles, Lucy/Bluebeard, & more