My first experience.
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This is my first Joanna Trollope book and will definitely not be my last. I enjoyed reading this book about two children adopted from different families into the same family unit. Nathalie is a difficult character to like and one who gets exactly what she deserves. David is the quieter (and younger off the two), bullied by his 'sister' into doing what he doesn't really want to do but with better consequences.
A lovely look into different families lives and the impact huge decisions can have on them. Also a good chance to read about different perspectives on the adoption process.
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"The abandoned baby lives inside each adoptee."
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In this tension-filled domestic drama, Joanna Trollope shows how theadoption of two children, now adults, have affected all the familiesinvolved--the birth mothers and their later families, the adoptive parentsand grandparents, and the adoptees themselves, their spouses, and theirchildren. Nathalie, the partner of Steve Ross and mother of their child,has always considered it an advantage to be adopted, to be "chosen," butwhen her young daughter Polly needs surgery for a condition that may beinherited, her own adoption becomes an issue for her. Asking "What elsedon't I know about where Polly's come from?" she suddenly comes to alife-changing realization: "I want to be like people who know where theycome from." She and her brother David decide to search for their birthmothers.
The rippling effects of this decision dominate this carefully constructednovel. Nathalie's adoptive mother, not surprisingly, is devastated thatboth of "her" children need to find "other" mothers. The birth mothers, byturn, have created new lives of their own, each dealing with her "lost"child in her own way. Nathalie's husband, David's wife, and their childrenare also affected, not least by the fact that Nathalie and David choose toshare their feelings with each other, rather than with their spouses. Asthe ripple effects continue, other characters, even including employees,are drawn into the emotional vortex, and unexpected complications send theaction in surprising directions with new twists and turns.
Trollope reveals the inner lives of her characters through beautifullyrealized dialogue, and she pays particular attention to the details ofpersonality and domestic relationships. The reader is quickly drawn intothe action and empathizes with the characters, who seem realistic, thoughthey are not fully developed. In fact, we learn about each one only whatis necessary for the author to illustrate the myriad effects of adoptionon the adoptees and the people who love them. The themes dominate,controlling both the action and the characters themselves. A vividdomestic drama with an unusual subject and characters, the novel shows ushow relationships are tested and tempered. Ultimately, both the charactersand the reader come to a new appreciation of the complexities of love andfamilies. Mary Whipple
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A calm analysis of family dynamics
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This is a beautiful analysis of the seismic shifts in family relationships, caused in the later life of children who have felt subliminally abandoned. The two people in the title - both adopted & lovingly raised, grow up & start families of their own. Joanna Trollope's deft handling of happy families, her acute observations of little children & her understanding of how good relationships ebb & flow on the surface, are beautifully observed. A small ear problem in her younger child causes Nathalie to suddenly want to look for her birth mother. It's not a popular decision - it unsettles everybody - especially when she pushes her brother David, to look for his mother too. For anyone who has adopted or been adopted, these disturbances will be familiar, but they are handled with subtlty & knowledge of damage that is caused by rejection, & some misjudgements handed to unmarried women in the past. It's a book full of compassion & sound common sense - by the end when nothing is the same, the richness of the dialogue & the unexpected turns of the plot, left me wanting a sequel - more anyway.
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