What Was Mine

Simply told but deeply affecting, in the bestselling tradition of Alice McDermott and Tom Perrotta, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore—and gets away with it for twenty-one years. Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends. When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood. Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.

"Simply told but deeply affecting, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore--and gets away with it for twenty-one years."--

Some people will go to any lengths to have a baby... Lucy Wakefield wants a child more than anything. So when she finds a seemingly abandoned baby in a store, she sees it as a sign. She doesn't mean for it to go as far it does. Little does she realise the impact her reckless decision will have on the heartbroken family she leaves in her wake – or on the daughter she raises as her own. Mia Wakefield has always known she was adopted, but now she is about to discover the devastating secret of her birth – and the lengths her mother went to...

The 12th installment in the New York Times best-selling series asks: What if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower? Desperate to save the life of their queen and her unborn child, the good citizens of the kingdom comb the land for the all-healing Sundrop flower to cure her . . . but someone mistakenly picks the blossom of the Moondrop instead. This shimmering flower heals the queen and she delivers a healthy baby girl?with hair as silver and gray as the moon. But with her mysterious hair comes dangerous magical powers: the power to hurt, not heal. For the safety of the kingdom, Rapunzel is locked away in a tower and put under the care of the powerful goodwife, Mother Gothel. For eighteen years Rapunzel stays imprisoned in her tower, knowing she must protect everyone from her magical hair. When she finally decides to leave the only home she's ever known—to see the floating lights that appear on her birthday—she gets caught up in an unexpected adventure with two thieves: a would-be outlaw named Gina, and Flynn Rider, a rogue on the run. Before she can reach her happy ending, Rapunzel learns that there is far more to her story, and her magical hair, and her future than she ever knew. For more twisted adventures, try the other books in the A TWISTED TALE series: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell As Old As Time by Liz Braswell Reflection by Elizabeth Lim Part of Your World by Liz Braswell Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita Conceal, Don't Feel by Jen Calonita Straight On Till Morning by Liz Braswell So This is Love by Elizabeth Lim Unbirthday by Liz Braswell Go the Distance by Jen Calonita (on sale 4/06/2021)

A collection of short fiction, twelve works in all, including two never-before-published novellas. Here are disconnected marriages and uneasy reunions, nostalgic reminiscences and sudden epiphanies--a remarkable and moving collage of contemporary lives.

A hilarious, high-stakes quest to redeem a family name! Bonus: there may be gold. Chris Dearing comes from a long line of losers and a history of bad luck that's plagued the Dearing family for generations. His only hope runs through the wild rivers of the forbidding North. What is up there other than moose snot and mosquitos the size of bats, you ask? Gold. More specifically, a gold claim won and then lost by Chris's grandfather, Wally Dearing. Reclaiming the old family gold stake looks to Chris like his only chance to a) get his family back on the straight and narrow, b) get Social Services off his back and c) turn the Dearing family luck around once and for all. Will he strike out, like the rest of his family, or strike gold and finally get a chance to rewrite Dearing history? Well it all depends on whether that giant, slobbering moose lets him down from that huge pine tree. The stakes are high and the hi-jinx even higher in this laugh-out-loud novel from acclaimed author Natalie Hyde!

Freya is torn between her two mothers. Liv, her adoptive mother who nurtured and raised her, is earthy, no-nonsense. The total opposite to Melody: with her vibrant, explosive personality and extensive, brightly coloured wardrobe, Freya's birth mother is still apt to find herself thrown out of Top Shop for bad behaviour. Hard as it has been for Freya to try to reconcile her two families, it has been harder for her mothers. Proud of her mature and sensible adoptive daughter, Liv fears Melody's restless influence. Meanwhile, forced to give up her baby when she was just a teenager herself, Melody now craves Freya's love and acceptance - but only really knows how to have fun. Then tragedy strikes, and the bonds of love that tie these three women together will be tested to the max. Can they finally let go of the past, and pull together in order to withstand the toughest challenge life could throw them?

“Mine” is one of the first words babies learn, and by the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you, reclining, or the squished laptop user behind you? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, while in New York you lose both the space and the chair? In Mine!, Michael Heller and James Salzman, two of the world’s leading authorities on ownership, explain these puzzles and many more. Remarkably, they reveal, there are just six simple rules that everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the rule that steers us to do what they want. But we can pick differently. This is true not just for airplane seats, but also for battles over digital privacy, climate change, and wealth inequality. Mine! draws on mind-bending, often infuriating, and always fascinating accounts from business, history, courtrooms, and everyday life to reveal how the rules of ownership control our lives and shape our world.