2022 Book Review #16:Somebody Else's Daughter

 

I've seen  reviews of this author but had never read any novels by her.  Saw this on the town library shelf and decided to borrow it.  LOVED this story and setting.

STORY SUMMARY

Nate and Cat (short for Catherine) are drug addicts and drifters. They've been living on the margins of San Francisco and are forced by circumstances, including the fact that Cat is dying of AIDS, to give up their brand new baby girl to adoption. They drive across the country to Stockbridge, MA where the couple, Joe and Candace Golding, are waiting with open arms and a large  country estate which includes horses. 

Seventeen years later, Nate, now clean and with a teaching  certificate, arrives in Stockbridge to begin teaching English literature at the highly acclaimed private academy known as Pioneer School.   It's a very elite, private school run by Jack and Maggie Heath who themselves have a teenaged daughter named Ada.  Jack and Maggie run a tight  ship with many rules and regulations. They also are very wealthy and are considered to be in high standing in the community. 

Willa, the name that Nate and Cat chose for her, and that the Goldings  kept per Nate's request, is now 17 and has never lacked for anything material nor has she ever worried about being adopted. She knows her biological mother died on the day she was delivered to the Goldings but she knows nothing about her biological father. She doesn't know the reason for her "real" mother's death. She also doesn't know that her dad (Joe) made his millions in the porn industry.  Everyone in town thinks he's just a movie mogul.  Little do they know that Candace her self was also a part of the porn business.  They intend to keep this secret forever.

Claire Squire is a visual artist (sculpter) and feminist. She is struggling on the outskirts of her profession. It's a lucky break to get her troubled son Teddy, a teenager, into the elite Pioneer School. But Teddy soon discovers that it's a precarious place to be and very well disguised with its preppy ties, plaid skirts and all those activities that make college applications look great.  He sees through all of it....but that just might threaten his grasp on a better future.

When Willa wins an internship to a domestic violence shelter to do volunteer work, her eyes are opened up to a whole new, sad world.  It is here where she mets Petra aka Pearl.  And this is when things begin to spiral out of control.

Just how much influence does Jack Heath have over his students and family?  How much does the community know about some of the things that go on at the school?  and what does a dead girl in Maine have to do with the Heath family? 

When Pearl is discovered dead in the woods on the school property, an investigation begins.  And what Teddy, Willa, and the Goldings find out will leave you gasping.

MY THOUGHTS

This was one of the best books I've read so far this year in the way of mysteries/dramas.  There are many important themes in this book, one of them being the relationship between husband and wife and between fathers and daughters. 

Both fathers in the story are very different...one is biological and one is adoptive.  And then there is the Headmaster father.  He is very disturbed.  But why?? What does it stem from?  And how can his wife Maggie just go along with all of his "sins?"

This is a very suspenful story with a lot of action and good,solid characters. 

The setting is superb and it was dear to my heart as we are very  close to the Stockbridge, MA area and even our own area of Albany, NY is mentioned several times, along with the farming villages of Columbia County to the east of us.

There are themes of adoption, drug addiction, Aids, poverty, major wealth, socioeconomic classes and the differences, the scourge of pornography and prostitution, and child sexual abuse along with extramarital affairs (adultery).  All of these things tie in with one another to make a powerful plot. 

The character development is just so well done and by the end, you are cheering for Claire, Nate, Teddy, and the Goldings.  The theme here is one of redemption and forgiveness all wrapped up in love. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content).

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.