Friday, June 24, 2016

What Was Mine; Helen Klein Ross

What Was Mine; Helen Klein Ross
Gallery Books - 2016

Lucy Wakefield was a good person with a good job. She was also a woman who desperately wanted to be a mother.  When she and her husband were not able to have a child of their own, he divorced her, remarried and had a family with his new wife.  So immediately, I felt bad for Lucy and her situation.

One day while Lucy is shopping in IKEA Lucy sees a young infant slumped over in a shopping cart and no adult is in site.  She gently props the baby up straight and notices the baby smile at her. She decides to push the cart up to the customer service desk but as she approaches the desk, pushes the cart outside the store to her car and off they go.  For the next 21 years she raises the girl she names, Mia, as her own.

The story is told from the POV of Lucy, Mia and Marilyn, the birth mother as well as a few minor characters.  Both Lucy and Marilyn came across as sympathetic characters. One lonely and desperate for a child, the other distracted by an important work call on her cell phone.

The first half of the book was very compelling and had me anxiously turning the pages.  As the story progressed I thought things happened a bit too conveniently but, I still enjoyed the story very much.  There aren't a lot of surprises in this novel but, I loved how the author rationalized Lucy's decision to take the infant and raise her as her own.  This is one of those stories that will leave readers torn. Definitely, a good choice for book club conversation.

4/5 stars
(library)

12 comments:

  1. I loved the audio version of this book. I couldn't believe the author made me symapthetic to a character who didn't something so awful.

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  2. I liked this one too and really liked all the different points of view.

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  3. That's are nice review and the main character sounds strange.

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  4. I almost read this but then got sidetracked by another book (that happens a lot). I'd still like to read it.

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  5. I read this a few months ago and really enjoyed it! The beginning pulled me in and then my attention wandered just a bit as it went on, bu would probably have been 4/5 for me too. Different storyline, well-written.

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  6. Not torn. I cwould never be able to get past the baby stealing.

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  7. This sounds like a compelling story, Diane. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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  8. I read this myself but I couldn't sympathise very much with Lucy. It was a compelling read though.

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  9. I have read of real life situations such as this, where abducted children grow up to find out who their real parents are. I did enjoy this book!

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  10. This sounds like a great concept for a novel. I'll put it on my list.

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  11. I really liked this and was impressed by how much the author got me to sympathize with this woman who did such an incredibly terrible thing.

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  12. I'm confused as to were the security cameras were at. Even 21 years ago, cameras were in stores. And I would also like to know how she raised a kid, with no birth certificate or any sort of other papers to get her in school, or for a myriad of other things, like a driver's license. It sounds like a compelling read, but I'm not sure my mind could let go of those details.

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