Finding Mother — Anne Allen

“Prepare to be swept away by a heart-warming tale of family relationships and love.” Reader

This romantic drama is the second of The Guernsey Novels, a series of stand-alone books by the award-winning author Anne Allen. It will appeal to fans of the best-selling novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Three women. Three generations. Sacrifices for love…

Who is she really? Nicole is about to find out as she searches for her real mother; the woman who gave her away at birth. With her marriage in tatters, she sets out from England: travelling to Spain, Jersey and Guernsey before the extraordinary story of her real family is finally revealed.

Nicole becomes an unwitting catalyst for change in that family. Two women are forced to reveal long-buried secrets. One going back as far as the Second World War. Lives are transformed as choices have to be made and the past laid to rest…

Book reviews

"A sensitive, heartfelt novel about family relationships, identity, adoption, second chances at love… With romance, weddings, boat trips, lovely gardens and more, Finding Mother is a dazzle of a book, a perfect holiday read." Lindsay Townsend, author of The Snow Bride.

"I first encountered Anne Allen when I read Dangerous Waters: Mystery, Loss and Love on the Island of Guernsey and if you've read that book you'll notice a glancing reference to Jeanne, the heroine, in Finding Mother. I felt nicely grounded! In much the same way that Allen wormed Jeanne into my heart, I really found that I cared for Nicole and willing her on to make the right decisions and a success of her life. Allen has a real talent for her female characters. The men don't come off the page quite as well, but that's a minor quibble. Tracing a birth parent when you've been adopted is a sensitive subject and Allen handles it well, recognising the insecurities of the adopting parents who wonder if they're going to be supplanted and the worries of the mother who gave up the child soon after her birth. Will she be judged for her relationship with the child's father and for the fact that she made no attempt to bring the child up herself? There's an added complication here in that Nicole will also find out about her birth father - giving her more parents than any girl should decently want! It's neatly, elegantly done and the story is a real page-turner." The Bookbag ****

The Guernsey Novels will appeal to lovers of the works of Joanna Trollope, Maeve Binchy, and the best-selling book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.