Shifting territory: Using fiction to illuminate hidden narratives in commercial surrogacy between Australia and Thailand

This thesis explores transnational commercial surrogacy, and demonstrates how fiction can be used to unsettle the closed narratives that dominate public discourse on this complex and contentious topic. My novel Mother of Pearl, is set between Thailand and Australia and tells the story of three women, one Thai and two Australian, whose lives become intertwined in the unsettling and extraordinary process of bringing a child into the world across borders of class, culture and nationality. The ethical implications of representing a different cultural identity when writing fiction are also addressed.