Review: The Secret Daughter

The Secret Daughter by Kelly Rimmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a beautifully written, emotional story that brought me to tears many times. It was based on true events in Australia in the early 70's concerning forced adoptions. Young expectant mothers were sent to maternity homes and forced to give up their babies. The poor souls had no choice because they had no means of support and their families, for the most part, had turned their backs on them.

2012, Sabina, a 38 year old married woman has just discovered that they are expecting their first child. Sabina and her husband have spent many years working and paying off their house and getting themselves financially secure and now they want to start a family. When they call in her parents to give them the news, they are completely stymied by their attitude and especially by her mother's reaction to the news who starts to voice unrealistic concerns and worries about the pregnancy. Sabina becomes very worried about her pregnancy and decided to have some blood tests to see if everything is as it should be.

The following day, after the episode with her parents, she receives a visit from them and they blurt out the very unexpected and surprising news that Sabina had been adopted. They refused to give her any other information, just that she was adopted. Of course Sabina wanted and needed more information about her past and where she came from.

And so the story continues and we learn about how the girls were treated in the "homes".

The story was well written, well laid out and easy to follow. An excellent read.

View all my reviews