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Motherlove
One mother’s need is another’s nightmare
* Three mothers*
1990
Heather is horrified to be pregnant again.
Gillian is desperate to adopt.
Lindy is terrified her baby will be taken from her.
In the middle of this longing and pain, a child disappears.
* Two babies *
Now
Vicky finds out she’s not who she thought she was.
Kelly loves her mother. Wanting to help her, she innocently reveals deeply buried secrets.
* One desperate woman *
Every day a woman goes to a park,
still trying to understand an event 22 years earlier that tore her life apart.
But all these stories are connected.
Can one of them learn the truth
without tearing apart the lives of everyone else?
* Three mothers*
1990
Heather is horrified to be pregnant again.
Gillian is desperate to adopt.
Lindy is terrified her baby will be taken from her.
In the middle of this longing and pain, a child disappears.
* Two babies *
Now
Vicky finds out she’s not who she thought she was.
Kelly loves her mother. Wanting to help her, she innocently reveals deeply buried secrets.
* One desperate woman *
Every day a woman goes to a park,
still trying to understand an event 22 years earlier that tore her life apart.
But all these stories are connected.
Can one of them learn the truth
without tearing apart the lives of everyone else?
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 19, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 16, 2015
Motherlove is contemporary fiction and a heart-wrenching tale of three mothers and their love for their children. Mrs Parish haunts a local park everyday searching for any clues which would lead her to find her baby who was snatched twenty-two years ago. She is a shell barely surviving, constantly facing those who accuse her of murdering her baby, even after so many years.
Kelly Sheldon arrives home to find her Mum seriously ill. Roz has always shied away from doctors and authority but now she needs help, diagnosed with Diabetes, she's damaged her kidneys. The vegetarian diet they eat will help her recovery and Roz still insists on her herbal remedies, but Kelly goes behind her back to have tests to see if she can donate a kidney for a Mother's survival.
Gillain walks on eggshells around her angry daughter never knowing the right way to deal with her and always feeling guilty about never finding the right time to tell her she is adopted. That is until the evil Joan blabs in yet another bought of hatred towards her family. Grasping for details Vicky digs up news reports from twenty-two years ago which fuel her anger at the world.
As the story unfolds we read of women who were victims of strong emotions surrounding their babies and life experiences which shaped their futures. There's no right or wrong definition of a mother's love in the constant flux of life but it still exists.
A very good tale which kept me enthralled until the end.
Kelly Sheldon arrives home to find her Mum seriously ill. Roz has always shied away from doctors and authority but now she needs help, diagnosed with Diabetes, she's damaged her kidneys. The vegetarian diet they eat will help her recovery and Roz still insists on her herbal remedies, but Kelly goes behind her back to have tests to see if she can donate a kidney for a Mother's survival.
Gillain walks on eggshells around her angry daughter never knowing the right way to deal with her and always feeling guilty about never finding the right time to tell her she is adopted. That is until the evil Joan blabs in yet another bought of hatred towards her family. Grasping for details Vicky digs up news reports from twenty-two years ago which fuel her anger at the world.
As the story unfolds we read of women who were victims of strong emotions surrounding their babies and life experiences which shaped their futures. There's no right or wrong definition of a mother's love in the constant flux of life but it still exists.
A very good tale which kept me enthralled until the end.
January 2, 2015
One mother’s need is another’s nightmare
* Three mothers*
1990
Heather is horrified to be pregnant again.
Gillian is desperate to adopt.
Lindy is terrified her baby will be taken from her.
In the middle of this longing and pain, a child disappears.
* Two babies *
Now
Vicky finds out she’s not who she thought she was.
Kelly loves her mother. Wanting to help her, she innocently reveals deeply buried secrets.
* One desperate woman *
Every day a woman goes to a park,
still trying to understand an event 22 years earlier that tore her life apart.
But all these stories are connected.
Can one of them learn the truth
without tearing apart the lives of everyone else?
Wow just wow, best book I've read so far this year. Won this as a giveaway
* Three mothers*
1990
Heather is horrified to be pregnant again.
Gillian is desperate to adopt.
Lindy is terrified her baby will be taken from her.
In the middle of this longing and pain, a child disappears.
* Two babies *
Now
Vicky finds out she’s not who she thought she was.
Kelly loves her mother. Wanting to help her, she innocently reveals deeply buried secrets.
* One desperate woman *
Every day a woman goes to a park,
still trying to understand an event 22 years earlier that tore her life apart.
But all these stories are connected.
Can one of them learn the truth
without tearing apart the lives of everyone else?
Wow just wow, best book I've read so far this year. Won this as a giveaway
January 18, 2015
I can’t remember the last time I read the last word of a novel and then immediately turned back to the first chapter and started all over again. But that’s what I did with Motherlove by Thorne Moore. I loved this book – I mean I really loved it!
Where do I start? I suppose, firstly, I should say how much I admired the author’s style of writing: the pace is fast but steady, moving seamlessly from one scene to the next. The language, the metaphors, the clever mix of sentence lengths, all draw out the tension of this heart-breaking story. And keep the reader gripped and having empathy for each of the characters
My favourite genres are family sagas and thrillers/ mystery novels. Motherlove is contemporary fiction but holds both these genres within its pages, together with a psychological theme cleverly woven throughout. The title says it all; there are many ways to be a mother, a myriad of ways to show the love that comes with that label. I think this novel reveals the diversity of those ways.
Best of all, for me, the story is written from various points of views, each chapter, subtly and gradually revealing each of the characters; three mothers and two daughters, whose lives are initially inexplicably linked by a dreadful incident in the past.
An incident I won’t reveal here; I don’t like giving spoils in my reviews. And, anyway, the reader is plunged in straight from the beginning, so why spoil things?
But I can speak, briefly, from a constructive criticism point of view.
The intricate plot is skilfully threaded with a number of subplots.
The descriptions of the settings, from rural Wales to the streets and buildings of a rundown town to a soulless council estate, are subtly drawn and provide a poignant backdrop throughout the two decades that the book travels through, and reveals the social and cultural milieu of these eras.
The characters are strongly drawn to elicit emotions from the reader; from sympathy to fear, to distress, to hatred, to horror to empathetic understanding.
Both the internal and spoken dialogue cleverly reveals each character, with their different nuances. There is never any doubt whose perspective we are seeing.
Anyone who has read Thorne Moore’s first novel A Time For Silence and have been waiting with anticipation for her next, won’t be disappointed; Motherlove is a brilliant successor and if I could give more than five stars for this novel, I would. I don’t only want to recommend Motherlove; I urge all those who enjoy excellent contemporary fiction to find a copy of this novel. And submerge themselves in it.
Where do I start? I suppose, firstly, I should say how much I admired the author’s style of writing: the pace is fast but steady, moving seamlessly from one scene to the next. The language, the metaphors, the clever mix of sentence lengths, all draw out the tension of this heart-breaking story. And keep the reader gripped and having empathy for each of the characters
My favourite genres are family sagas and thrillers/ mystery novels. Motherlove is contemporary fiction but holds both these genres within its pages, together with a psychological theme cleverly woven throughout. The title says it all; there are many ways to be a mother, a myriad of ways to show the love that comes with that label. I think this novel reveals the diversity of those ways.
Best of all, for me, the story is written from various points of views, each chapter, subtly and gradually revealing each of the characters; three mothers and two daughters, whose lives are initially inexplicably linked by a dreadful incident in the past.
An incident I won’t reveal here; I don’t like giving spoils in my reviews. And, anyway, the reader is plunged in straight from the beginning, so why spoil things?
But I can speak, briefly, from a constructive criticism point of view.
The intricate plot is skilfully threaded with a number of subplots.
The descriptions of the settings, from rural Wales to the streets and buildings of a rundown town to a soulless council estate, are subtly drawn and provide a poignant backdrop throughout the two decades that the book travels through, and reveals the social and cultural milieu of these eras.
The characters are strongly drawn to elicit emotions from the reader; from sympathy to fear, to distress, to hatred, to horror to empathetic understanding.
Both the internal and spoken dialogue cleverly reveals each character, with their different nuances. There is never any doubt whose perspective we are seeing.
Anyone who has read Thorne Moore’s first novel A Time For Silence and have been waiting with anticipation for her next, won’t be disappointed; Motherlove is a brilliant successor and if I could give more than five stars for this novel, I would. I don’t only want to recommend Motherlove; I urge all those who enjoy excellent contemporary fiction to find a copy of this novel. And submerge themselves in it.
January 25, 2015
Motherlove is one of the best books I have read in the last year. I loved it! It is a heart wrenching, page turner of a psychological mystery, which had me hooked from the start. The book travels between two time periods, that of 1990, and present day. However the author has seamlessly woven these together. The main themes of this book are mothers love, and their fear and desperation for their babies, and deception. It brilliantly unravels the story of three mothers and that of two daughters and lives which have been torn apart. It is a fantastic story and piece of writing by Thorne Moore. I shall be seeking out a copy of her first novel A Time For Silence.
- Received free Goodreads firstread and publisher Honno, Thank you.
- Received free Goodreads firstread and publisher Honno, Thank you.
April 23, 2015
It's 1990 and three women are going to have a child that year. Heather is having her second child. Her first is quite a handful, financially it will be even more tough and she isn't ready to have another baby. Lindy is seventeen, she's pregnant and she has a violent boyfriend. She's afraid to have the baby as her child won't be safe with him. He wants her to leave the baby somewhere, but Lindy wants to keep her child. Gillian is desperate to become a mother, but she can't get pregnant. When nothing works she decided she'd like to adopt. She and her husband are living with her mother and that isn't an ideal situation to raise a child, but she wants to have one anyway.
Two girls find out their mother isn't their real mother. Kelly's mother Roz has a genetic form of diabetes. She needs a new kidney, but Kelly isn't a match. She wants to find the girl who is to see if she has a kidney for Roz. What happened 22 years earlier with the babies on the maternity ward in the hospital, has someone switched them? Vicky finds out that her mother isn't her real mother. Her childhood hasn't been very nice, so she's trying to find the woman who should have raised her. She thinks she knows where to find her, but is this person actually her mother? What happened with both of these girls?
Motherlove is a fantastic fast paced book about three mothers and two girls. Somehow the stories are connected, but how? I couldn't stop reading and couldn't wait to find out what happened. This is such a thrilling read. The story is unusual and really good. Everything clicks at a certain point and behind the gripping part of the story there are also beautiful stories about young women who need to find their way in life. Something went horribly wrong somewhere and that had grave consequences. Eventually the reader will get the missing pieces of the puzzle, I loved how the writer makes that happen. If you like a moving psychological story that will keep you on the edge of your seat you will love this book.
Two girls find out their mother isn't their real mother. Kelly's mother Roz has a genetic form of diabetes. She needs a new kidney, but Kelly isn't a match. She wants to find the girl who is to see if she has a kidney for Roz. What happened 22 years earlier with the babies on the maternity ward in the hospital, has someone switched them? Vicky finds out that her mother isn't her real mother. Her childhood hasn't been very nice, so she's trying to find the woman who should have raised her. She thinks she knows where to find her, but is this person actually her mother? What happened with both of these girls?
Motherlove is a fantastic fast paced book about three mothers and two girls. Somehow the stories are connected, but how? I couldn't stop reading and couldn't wait to find out what happened. This is such a thrilling read. The story is unusual and really good. Everything clicks at a certain point and behind the gripping part of the story there are also beautiful stories about young women who need to find their way in life. Something went horribly wrong somewhere and that had grave consequences. Eventually the reader will get the missing pieces of the puzzle, I loved how the writer makes that happen. If you like a moving psychological story that will keep you on the edge of your seat you will love this book.
September 29, 2021
This book holds far more complexity than the majority on offer as it looks at three mothers.
With two timelines one the relatively recent 1990 and the latter current day we meet Heather who finds she is pregnant with her second child, already somewhat overwhelmed with one she wonders how she will manage.
We also meet another soon to be mother, seventeen year old Lindy who finds out she is pregnant, will she be able to cope?
Then there is poor Gillian, desperate to be a mother she is now considering adoption, anything to be a mother...
Later we meet daughters and a complex tale of motherhood and the consequences for the next generation.
Fascinating and an engaging read.
With two timelines one the relatively recent 1990 and the latter current day we meet Heather who finds she is pregnant with her second child, already somewhat overwhelmed with one she wonders how she will manage.
We also meet another soon to be mother, seventeen year old Lindy who finds out she is pregnant, will she be able to cope?
Then there is poor Gillian, desperate to be a mother she is now considering adoption, anything to be a mother...
Later we meet daughters and a complex tale of motherhood and the consequences for the next generation.
Fascinating and an engaging read.
April 24, 2015
I had enjoyed Thorne Moore's first novel very much, so this one was on my to-read list, and besides the theme of motherlove interested me. Although this novel is quite different from her first one, I was not disappointed, I couldn't put it down!
On many occasions, I felt I was reading a Ruth Rendell novel (and that's a huge compliment!): the book has the same sort of psychological insight and social drama storylines, even down to the style, although in Motherlove, the story is told from each character's viewpoint, which makes us identify with them even more.
The story is very women-oriented and the theme of child abandonment is central. I really enjoyed it!
On many occasions, I felt I was reading a Ruth Rendell novel (and that's a huge compliment!): the book has the same sort of psychological insight and social drama storylines, even down to the style, although in Motherlove, the story is told from each character's viewpoint, which makes us identify with them even more.
The story is very women-oriented and the theme of child abandonment is central. I really enjoyed it!
May 4, 2015
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I found this book very enjoyable. It took me about a quarter of the book to get into the characters, but from then on I couldn't put it down. Very well written as the story made me feel a range of emotions. Very good.
November 18, 2017
Clever and well written.
October 23, 2015
An amazing story!
Three women: Lindy, pregnant and a teenager in a disfunctional, violent realationship. Gary wants her to get rid of the baby. Heather, already a mother of a young boy, pregnant again but not sure if this is the right time for her and her husband to have another baby. Gillian, a thirty five year old desperate to adopt.
Lindy leaves her baby in the door well of a store: Heather, distracted by the demands of her younger son, has her baby stolen from the pram in a park; Giuliani just waits for a baby.
Years later we meet Vicky, the adopts daughter of Gullian. She is bitter about her disfunctional family, not realizing she is adopted. Kelly is distraught when her mother is diagnosed with Mature Onset Diabetes. Her mother probably needs a kidney transplant. The DNA testing proves Kelly is not the biological daughter.
A well written tale with strong story lines and compelling characters.
Three women: Lindy, pregnant and a teenager in a disfunctional, violent realationship. Gary wants her to get rid of the baby. Heather, already a mother of a young boy, pregnant again but not sure if this is the right time for her and her husband to have another baby. Gillian, a thirty five year old desperate to adopt.
Lindy leaves her baby in the door well of a store: Heather, distracted by the demands of her younger son, has her baby stolen from the pram in a park; Giuliani just waits for a baby.
Years later we meet Vicky, the adopts daughter of Gullian. She is bitter about her disfunctional family, not realizing she is adopted. Kelly is distraught when her mother is diagnosed with Mature Onset Diabetes. Her mother probably needs a kidney transplant. The DNA testing proves Kelly is not the biological daughter.
A well written tale with strong story lines and compelling characters.
May 16, 2016
A brilliant story about a girl who went missing. The mother, who is being blamed for this, tries to figure out what happened. At the same time, other narrative strands focus on different themes of motherhood and motherlove.
While you know that the strands are connected somehow and even may be able to figure out how, you won't be quite prepared for the way that the characters develop and come to terms with their issues. One of the biggest achievements for a book is to change your perspective and I certainly went away from this with exactly such a change of perspective.
What has happened 22 years ago and how the author choses to tie things up not only surprised me but it made me think and stayed with me for a long time after finishing the book.
I must say that I didn't expect so much depth, nor that I would be so affected by this book.
Amazing.
While you know that the strands are connected somehow and even may be able to figure out how, you won't be quite prepared for the way that the characters develop and come to terms with their issues. One of the biggest achievements for a book is to change your perspective and I certainly went away from this with exactly such a change of perspective.
What has happened 22 years ago and how the author choses to tie things up not only surprised me but it made me think and stayed with me for a long time after finishing the book.
I must say that I didn't expect so much depth, nor that I would be so affected by this book.
Amazing.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews