The Child I Never Had


Book Description

I remember the moment I handed her to Suzanne, wrapped in a soft pink blanket. I'd wept while I'd put it around her and she'd blinked up at me with her big blue eyes. The moment she left my arms I wanted to cry out. Suzanne had tears in her eyes as she took hold of my daughter. "Thank you," she whispered. It's a warm early summer's evening when Mia's doorbell rings unexpectedly. She opens the door to see the silhouette of a teenage girl standing in the shadow beyond the porch light-and in an instant she realises who it is. Daisy, the daughter she gave up as a baby. Daisy steps forward, trembling as she says "I'm sorry I didn't call first. But something happened. And I really needed... you." Seventeen years before, knowing she couldn't possibly give her beautiful little girl Daisy the future she deserved, Mia made the hardest decision of her life-to give her up. And Suzanne seemed the perfect adoptive mother: calm, stable, and full of love for the daughter she'd always dreamed of having. The two mothers promised to keep communication open, so Daisy could have Mia's love and support along with Suzanne's. But as the years passed, those visits happened less and less, and now Daisy seems almost like a stranger to Mia. But she has arrived on Mia's doorstep, and she says she has a terrible secret. And she believes the only person who can help her is Mia. Her birth mother. Mia, however, has secrets of her own. Ones she is afraid to let Daisy or anyone else know. And while Suzanne desperately seeks a way back to her estranged child, can Mia overcome her past to help the girl they both call their daughter in her darkest hour? Totally gripping emotional women's fiction from the author guaranteed to make readers cry. Kate Hewitt's story will grab you by the heartstrings and never let you go. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain and Jojo Moyes. Readers love Kate Hewitt: "This book had me crying so badly. It broke my heart, never has any book been able to just wipe me out with such gut-wrenching sadness. A book of love, loss, and loyalty... BEAUTIFULLY DONE." NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Warning, you will need a box of tissues by your side to get through this book!!!!! I loved, loved, loved this book. It was a real tear-jerker. Question was when was I ever going to stop crying? My husband even asked me if something terrible had happened and I had to explain it was just my book... Awesome." Blue Moon Blogger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Not only broke my heart but shattered it... When the tears [came] though, they didn't stop. It is such an emotionally charged novel... An absolute tear-jerker of a read for which I highly recommend having a box of tissues." Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I'm not someone who cries easily but... [I] thought this book might just break me into tiny pieces. This is an incredibly moving, powerful and heart-breaking story about motherhood, love and loss." Novel Deelights ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I loved this story and the storytelling so much... I identified with both mothers as their trauma increased in intensity... A novel you must not miss... Excellent in every way." Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐




Grieving the Child I Never Knew


Book Description

When the anticipation of your child’s birth turns into the grief of miscarriage, tubal pregnancy, stillbirth, or early infant death, no words on earth can ease your loss. But there is strength and encouragement in the wisdom of others who have been there and found that God’s comfort is real.Having experienced three miscarriages and the death of an infant son, Kathe Wunnenberg knows the deep anguish of losing a child. Grieving the Child I Never Knew was born from her personal journey through sorrow. It is a wise and tender companion for mothers whose hearts have been broken--mothers like you whose dreams have been shattered and who wonder how to go on. This devotional collection will help you grieve honestly and well. With seasoned insights and gentle questions, it invites you to present your hurts before God, and to receive over time the healing that He alone can--and will--provide. Each devotion includes:* Scripture passage and prayer* "Steps Toward Healing" questions * Space for journalingReadings for holidays and special occasions also included




The Child who Never Grew


Book Description

An account of the sorrow and the spiritual rewards the author experienced as the mother of a retarded child.




Among the Hidden


Book Description

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, an illegal third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm in this start to the Shadow Children series from Margaret Peterson Haddix. Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows—does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?




Alex


Book Description

A father’s moving memoir of cystic fibrosis “captures a brave child’s legacy as well as the continuing fight against the genetic disease” (The New York Times). In 1971 a girl named Alex was born with cystic fibrosis, a degenerative genetic lung disease. Although health-care innovations have improved the life span of CF patients tremendously over the last four decades, the illness remains fatal. Given only two years to live by her doctors, the imaginative, excitable, and curious little girl battled through painful and frustrating physical-therapy sessions twice daily, as well as regular hospitalizations, bringing joy to the lives of everyone she touched. Despite her setbacks, brave Alex was determined to live life like a typical girl—going to school, playing with her friends, traveling with her family. Ultimately, however, she succumbed to the disease in 1980 at the age of eight. Award-winning author Frank Deford, celebrated primarily as a sportswriter, was also a budding novelist and biographer at the time of his daughter’s birth. Deford kept a journal of Alex’s courageous stand against the disease, documenting his family’s struggle to cope with and celebrate the daily fight she faced. This book is the result of that journal. Alex relives the events of those eight years: moments as heartwarming as when Alex recorded herself saying “I love you” so her brother could listen to her whenever he wanted, and as heartrending as the young girl’s tragic, dawning realization of her own very tenuous mortality, and her parents’ difficulty in trying to explain why. Though Alex is a sad story, it is also one of hope; her greatest wish was that someday a cure would be found. Deford has written a phenomenal memoir about an extraordinary little girl.




Letter to a Child Never Born


Book Description

A pregnant woman who regards motherhood as a responsible, moral choice prepares for her child's birth by remarking upon and examining her ambivalent feelings toward herself, her society, and her unborn child




Better Never to Have Been


Book Description

Most people believe that they were either benefited or at least not harmed by being brought into existence. David Benatar presents a startling challenge to these assumptions. He argues that people systematically overestimate the quality of their life, and suffer quite serious harms by coming into existence.




I Who Have Never Known Men


Book Description

A work of fantasy, I Who Have Never Known Men is the haunting and unforgettable account of a near future on a barren earth where women are kept in underground cages guarded by uniformed groups of men. It is narrated by the youngest of the women, the only one with no memory of what the world was like before the cages, who must teach herself, without books or sexual contact, the essential human emotions of longing, loving, learning, companionship, and dying. Part thriller, part mystery, I Who Have Never Known Men shows us the power of one person without memories to reinvent herself piece by piece, emotion by emotion, in the process teaching us much about what it means to be human.




Regretting Motherhood


Book Description

A provocative and deeply important study of women’s lives, women’s choices—and an ‘unspoken taboo’—that questions the societal pressures forcing women into motherhood Women who opt not to be mothers are frequently warned that they will regret their decision later in life, yet we rarely talk about the possibility that the opposite might also be true—that women who have children might regret it. Drawing on years of research interviewing women from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and professional backgrounds, sociologist Orna Donath treats regret as a feminist issue: as regret marks the road not taken, we need to consider whether alternative paths for women currently are blocked off. She asks that we pay attention to what is forbidden by rules governing motherhood, time, and emotion, including the cultural assumption that motherhood is a “natural” role for women—for the sake of all women, not just those who regret becoming mothers. If we are disturbed by the idea that a woman might regret becoming a mother, Donath says, our response should not be to silence and shame these women; rather, we need to ask honest and difficult questions about how society pushes women into motherhood and why those who reconsider it are still seen as a danger to the status quo. Groundbreaking, thoughtful, and provocative, this is an especially needed book in our current political climate, as women's reproductive rights continue to be at the forefront of national debates.




Freak the Mighty


Book Description

Max is used to being called Stupid. And he is used to everyone being scared of him. On account of his size and looking like his dad. Kevin is used to being called Dwarf. And he is used to everyone laughing at him. On account of his size and being some cripple kid. But greatness comes in all sizes, and together Max and Kevin become Freak The Mighty and walk high above the world. An inspiring, heartbreaking, multi-award winning international bestseller.