Other People’s Children

Title: Other People's Children
Author: R.J. Hoffmann
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased

Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried—once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her.

Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby.

In Other People’s Children, three mothers make excruciating choices to protect their families and their dreams—choices that put them at decided odds against one another. You will root for each one of them and wonder just how far you’d go in the same situation. This riveting debut is a thoughtful exploration of love and family, and a heart-pounding page-turner you’ll find impossible to put down.

Let me start this review by saying that THIS BOOK is the reason my husband and I adopted our daughters from China! Obviously there are so many adoptions that go according to plan, and I don't think that I, or this book, is speaking to try and sway someone from choosing this method of creating a family. I just know that in our case, this would probably have happened, and I can 100% say that I would have been Gail! While I did have sympathy for Carli, her mother was the wicked witch of the west personified! Ugh! I think this book was very well written in that you were supposed to feel for each of the three mother's equally, but given my situation, I found it hard to do. If you do not have as close of a connection to adoption as I did, this book will give you many things to ponder with regards to what makes a mother. Some of the scenarios did get a little far fetched, but I think it was like a snowball rolling down hill, one thing led to another as the plot picked up speed. This was well written, with alternating chapters from the three mothers, and the plot moved very quickly once the baby was born. I wasn't entirely on board with all parts of the ending, but I felt that it was handled sensitively and didn't make me want to hurl the book across the room 🙂

A believable take on the ups and downs of the adoption process, this one will definitely make you wonder what you would do if dropped into any of these women's lives.