The Arms of God — Lynne Hinton

Alice is making her daughter dinner when her mother Olivia, who left her at a day care center when she was four-years-old, appears at her door. Although Alice has managed to navigate an unforgiving foster care system to build a good life for herself, she has never really recovered from her mother's disappearance. Olivia's sudden reappearance is like a quiet, unexplained gift. Over the next couple of weeks Alice asks Olivia to dinner. Olivia is always dropped off by a friend and sits peacefully as Alice and her daughter talk over the meal. One afternoon Alice gets a call from the hospital telling her that Olivia is dead. The only identification the hospital could find was Alice's number with the word "daughter" written underneath it. She goes to pick up Olivia's things and finds the key to her apartment. It is here that the mystery of Olivia's past is slowly uncovered and Alice begins to understand how the power of hatred can hold a woman down and how the power of friendship can lift her up again.

Not since her bestselling book The Friendship Cake has Hinton created characters who are so filled with heartache and fragile hope, that they will become a permanent part of the reader's life.