Book Review:Somebody Else’s Daughter

In the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts a group of families is connected through the prestigious Pioneer prep school. Into this community enters Nate Gallagher, a teacher and struggling writer haunted by the daughter he gave up for adoption years ago. The girl, Willa—now a teenager and one of Nate’s students—lives with her adoptive parents, Joe and Candace, who have nurtured her with their affection and prosperity. When Willa wins a community service internship and begins working at a local women’s shelter, her friendship with a troubled prostitute raises questions about her own biological past. Despite her parent’s love and care, Willa can’t shake her feelings of confusion and abandonment, and Joe and Candace are too preoccupied with their crumbling marriage to realize her unhappiness. Read more.

Visit Elizabeth’s website here, read an excerpt of the book here, and check out the Somebody Else’s Daughter’s website here.  Visit TLC Book Tours here.

MY REVIEW

Somebody Else’s Daughter is a novel of psychological suspense in which a private adoption’s dark consequences play out years later, at an elite prep school in the Berkshires. It follows the lives of three families, whose tragedies, flaws, and pasts interconnect. The novel powerfully starts out with a drugged out couple and their newborn. As the mom is dying, they agree to give her up for adoption to give her a better life. The novel then skips years later when that baby is now a beautiful girl named Willa. Her biological father has come back to work as a teacher in her prep school to secretly see how she has turned out. Elizabeth Brundage is a talented writer, who has written a complex character study. We meet one character and just as I feel I am connecting to them, she switches to another character’s perspective. Eventually, she comes back to them, but it is in a slow build that reminded me of Little Children by Tom Perrotta. Don’t get me wrong, Somebody Else’s Daughter isn’t as good as Little Children, but Brundage’s way with words and ability to capture so many complex issues is reminiscent of Perrotta. I also didn’t feel a connection to any one character, which may have been her point. These are deeply scarred and flawed characters. This is not a quick read, but the shocking conclusion is satisfying. I look forward to more from Brundage.