What Was Mine: A Novel

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Synopsis

Simply told but deeply affecting, in the bestselling tradition of Alice McDermott and Tom Perrotta, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore—and gets away with it for twenty-one years.

Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends.

When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood.

Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.

Chapters

  • WhatWasMine 101 Ch99 Lin

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 102 Ch100 Lucy

    Duration: 05min
  • WhatWasMine 103 Ch101 Mia

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 104 Ch102 Lucy

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 105 Ch103 Mia

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 106 Ch104 Marilyn

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 107 Ch105 Mia

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 108 Ch106 Mia

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 109 Ch107 Marilyn

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 110 Ch108 Mia

    Duration: 04min
  • WhatWasMine 111 Ch109 Grant

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 112 Ch110 Marilyn

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 113 Ch111 Lucy

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 114 Ch112 Lin

    Duration: 33s
  • WhatWasMine 115 Ch113 Mia

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 116 Ch114 Mia

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 117 Ch115 Mia

    Duration: 02min
  • WhatWasMine 118 Ch116 Marilyn

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 119 Ch117 Tom

    Duration: 01min
  • WhatWasMine 120 Ch118 Mia

    Duration: 03min
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