Rachel Cathan

Rachel Cathan is a writer from Bedfordshire.

In 2001, a mutual friend introduced her to a part-time pub DJ in Southend-on-Sea. A month later, they had moved in together, around seven years later they tied the knot, and a little while after that - just like so many couples before them - they made the exciting and terrifying decision to start a family. And then, like a growing number of couples today, well...not a lot happened!

Throughout the subsequent years of fertility investigations and failed treatments, Rachel kept a diary of her experiences, and it's from these first-hand encounters in the world of infertility and IVF that her first book, 336 Hours, has been adapted.

Keen to help break the taboo around infertility, Rachel decided to write 336 Hours to explore the invisible strain that infertility places on every relationship in your life. She wanted to confess to all the bitter and downright horrible thoughts that start to invade your head once an infertility diagnosis has been delivered, and to give other women a much-needed laugh at a difficult, emotional and often very lonely time.

Thanks to the eventual discovery of a wonderful fertility specialist, she is also now the mother of two small children.