Love forms is a slow contemplative novel written in retrospect. Dawn got pregnant as a 16 year old in Trinidad. Forced by her parents to give the baby up for adoption, dawn moves on with her life and establishes a new life for herself. However, now in her 50s and divorced, dawn decides to confront her past and seek out her long lost daughter. Most of the book is spent in dawns memory as she reflects back on the choices that led her to this point as an adult and her upbringing and pain in giving up her daughter and in the years that followed.

While I do think this will appeal to many readers, this wasn’t for me. This was so slow. I needed more plot and less time in Dawns head. Somewhat of a letdown from golden child.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“I think about the girl I had in Venezuela, as well. ‘Think’ isn’t exactly the right word; it’s not exactly thinking that I do. She just drifts in and out of my thoughts, in the way that a breeze might quietly pass through a room.”

For many parents, a time will come when they must make a difficult choice on behalf of their child. It might bear long-term consequences, and it might be a choice that later cannot be undone. When the child reaches the age of majority, she or he will be living in a different world. Mores will have no doubt changed, if that is a factor. Whatever the case, that child will have her or his own opinion about the choice made for them. In Dawn’s case, it will lead to a life of searching.

Dawn is from a Trinidadian family “more or less classed as white,” she says, whose wealth and standing began with fruit juice. It was 1980 when she when to Carnival with her more experienced friend, Angie. She wanted to impress Angie when she led a tourist to the beach. Dawn was sixteen at the time, and she became pregnant from that encounter. When her parents found out, they arranged for a dangerous water crossing to Venezuela under cover of darkness. She would spend the remaining months of her pregnancy in an isolated house along with other young girls like herself who had been sent away to have and lose their babies in secret.

Trinidadian social standards were rigid at the time, as they were elsewhere. Dawn would have been penalized if her pregnancy had been discovered. She never would have freed herself of the stigma. But what really drove Dawn’s parents to send her away? Their standing on the island, that much is clear. Dawn was on her own.

This book is a heartbreaking story about seeking what was taken yet might never be found.

“Everybody keeps telling you the same thing. Just put it behind you. What you think you can do about it now?”

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group—Random House and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

I did not finish this book. I got to 53% and couldn't go any farther. To me it just kept going over the same things; chapter after chapter. She never got to the nitty gritty of the book. I found it boring. It is very rare that I don't finish books but this one was painful.

the beginning and ending of this were so striking — so beautiful, so descriptive and sensory, so packed with emotion without writing any directly. i didn't feel the same way about the middle, but i won't soon forget those parts.

I think this novel will probably work for a lot of readers, but I had a hard time with it on a structural level. Novels of recollection can be very moving and rich, but they can also be slack and rambling, which is unfortunately the side this one comes down on. Without a strong narrative throughline in the present story -- the search for the missing daughter could have served as this but doesn't -- we don't have much to grab onto, and end up feeling like passive observers of somebody else's memory. There's lots of vivid nostalgic detail here, but not much else -- the prose feels workmanlike and the side characters are standard and shallowly developed. What's worse, the novel raises questions about class, race, empire, and wealth that it seems completely uninterested in exploring. I'm pretty surprised this made the Booker longlist.

One nights careless decision and Dawn's life is altered at the early age of 16. She will not have a choice of considering keeping her unborn child , that decision will be made by her parents. The journey Dawn takes from being a young girl who is secretly taken to another country to have a child and then return to act as if nothing occurred. These events will shape her life and the relationships she will form for years. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced e-book.

A great premise, that unfortunately misses the mark when the author attempts to flesh it out in to a fully formed story. The characters were well developed but it was hard to stay interested in what was going on around them.

I absolutely loved this book!
Adam creates an amazing sense of place in this book.
The story is well-written and well-conceived. The characters are truly beautiful and well developed.
I got fully invested and found myself falling in love with these characters.
Now I have to go and read her previous titles.

What happens when a loss in your youth defines the rest of your life? Claire Adam’s LOVE FORMS is a tender and gently shattering novel about Dawn Bishop, a woman from a respectable middle-class family in Trinidad who, at sixteen, becomes pregnant by a tourist during Carnival. Her parents send her to Venezuela to give birth in secret. Forty years later, she’s still searching for the daughter she was forced to give up.

I thought this was a beautiful and subtle character study that kept me invested in the story until the very end. Adam is a master of what remains unsaid: we glimpse Dawn’s grief, shame, and longing in the silences between conversations, in the life she builds and slowly unravels. The novel shifts between the lush, privileged, volatile world of Dawn’s home in Trinidad and the muted chilly solitude of her adult life in south London. As she begins her search, we revisit the ruptures in her past: the terrifying boat trip to Venezuela, the hazy months at the home for unwed mothers, her return to “normal” teen life, her family’s angry silence, her career struggles, and the quiet collapse of her marriage.

Don’t expect many dramatic twists or melodrama: told in spare, lyrical prose, this is fiction of subtle precision and deeply felt sorrow, perfect for fans of Claire Keegan and Kiran Desai.

🎧 The audiobook, beautifully narrated by Trinidad-born actress Melanie La Barrie, brings Dawn vividly to life with pitch-perfect accents and sensitivity. Highly recommended!

Thank you @hogarthbooks | @netgalley | @prhaudio for the ARC and ALC.

At 16, Dawn is forced to stay in a convent in Venezuela until her baby is born and given up for adoption. She grows up, marries and has a life of her own in London with more children. The story takes place between Trinidad, Venezuela and London and mainly follows her search for the daughter she was forced to give up. The writing is beautiful but, as much as I loved Claire Adam’s previous book, Golden Child, this one fell a little short for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I like the story of Dawn's family and how they became successful and were able to have such a nice life. I also like reading that Dawn went to school to become a doctor and actually practice it for a while. I love reading about her parents and brothers and how they grew up and what they were doing in their lives. I like that Dawn's brother Warren was always there for her even though the pursuit was a dead end. I loved reading about Finlay and Oscar and how they are both doctors and still in Dawn's life, and how going to Trinidad and Tobago made them happy and relaxed.
The part of the story that was frustrating was Dawn's obsession about a child she had at sixteen and gave it away. It seemed her whole life was obsessed with finding this child no matter what else was left by the wayside, and it never really gets resolved. I found it sad that with everything Dawn had she was never happy with what she had and she seem to want life to be another way, and it never happen. She finally stops but after many years of searching and finding only dead ends.
I always find stories about children given up for adoption interesting since I was adopted, and it fascinates me that people want to find their birthmothers, because I never did.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Hogarth and NetGalley for an advance copy of a book about the decisions we make and regret.

Love Forms follows the story of Dawn, a mother who is searching for a child she gave up for adoption 40 years ago. The novel is a quiet and emotional look at the many complexities in a family relationship. I really enjoyed parts of this book, but I also found it it to be a bit too slow. I thought the ending was powerful and the cover art is stunning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC of this novel. This was an interesting history of Trinidad, and a frustrating story of a middle aged woman, Dawn Wilson, trying to find a daughter she put up for adoption when she was 15. Dawn was sent to a convent in Venezuela in the middle of the night in the most traumatizing way possible in order to have the child and be whisked back to Trinidad. This child haunts her for her entire life, because she wants to know her and because the experience was so traumatizing and disorienting. She did not even know where she was when she gave birth. At the time, the point was for the family to get rid of the shame. Dawn's perspective, however, is that she made a mistake herself. She does not recognize that she had no choice in the matter. As a result, all of her relationships suffer and she does not ask her family to take any responsibility for their role. This was a realistic tale but still sad. The inclusion of so much Trinidadian history was somewhat awkward. The trip to the morgue felt especially forced.

I found this book to be very slow and tedious. While it was written quite like a Strout book, it just didn’t move along and I ultimately was unable to finish it. I really don’t like to abandon books but I just couldn’t get through this one. I’m sure many readers found it moving, but it just wasn’t for me.

This was a decent and emotional novel. I thought the story was interesting and the writing style was very poignant. I had trouble with the pacing though. The novel was a little long and overwrought in some respects. I liked Dawn as our protagonist. She had a very strong and powerful voice. I think a lot of readers will enjoy this beautiful story about family lost and family found.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Love Forms
Author: Claire Adam
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: July 29, 2025

“Love Forms” is a mature woman’s coming-of-age narrative exploring life, love, and family complexities. The protagonist, Dawn, faces a challenging journey from childhood to adulthood. Her early years are marked by neglect from her parents, leading her to become unwed and pregnant at the tender age of sixteen.

The story is set in Trinidad, where Dawn’s wealthy family sends her on a perilous voyage to Venezuela. There, she is entrusted to the care of nuns until the birth of her child, who is subsequently adopted. Upon her return home, Dawn eventually embarks on a new chapter of her life in England, where she becomes a doctor, a wife, and a mother of two sons. However, despite these accomplishments, she feels a profound sense of unfulfillment.

The lingering desire to know her daughter and the unresolved mystery surrounding her fate consume Dawn’s thoughts, hindering her ability to embrace her life fully. This unresolved conflict strains her relationships and creates a rift between Dawn and her family.

“Love Forms” is a poignant exploration of the profound bonds formed during childbirth, the transformative power of love, and the enduring significance of family. The narrative unfolds gradually, building tension and emotional resonance over time.

#LoveForms @claireadamwriter @hogarthbooks @netgalley #adoption #unwedpregnancy #CatholicFaith #family #love #children #life #goals #sadness #melancholy #comingofage

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

In a first-person voice, Dawn Bishop Wilson, the 58-year-old narrator of this novel, tells of a pivotal time when she was 16, and her life in Trinidad and then England.

From a wealthy, mixed-race Trinidadian family, founded by a white Irish immigrant, Dawn is the youngest of three siblings, and lived a sheltered life on the island.

However, when she was 16, she was allowed to go away with friends for Carnival, and after a one-night stand with a stranger, returned pregnant. Her parents were determined to hide this shame, and sent her on a strange, secret trip to Venezuela, where she had her daughter and left her for adoption immediately after the birth.

More than forty years later, living in England, recently-divorced with two grown sons, Dawn spends much time remembering her harrowing journey, and also looking for the daughter she surrendered. She also seems to grieve for the medical career she qualified for but did not pursue, somewhat ironically, because of her husband’s views on her responsibilities as a mother.

Unfortunately, my rating of this book went lower the further I read. Not only is Dawn obsessed with her lost daughter, but she seems to be an unreliable narrator. There are many gaps in her story, and off-hand remarks fill in partial information on important events. She also spends a great deal of time describing the geography of the places she lived, especially in Trinidad and Tobago. And, as the story progresses, she moves from clear English to pidgin English, making her sound more and more distant from her adult self.

This may relate to the many themes around personal agency, identity and belonging, being sent away from your home and family, and trying to find your way back. Dawn’s life seems filled with disappointments and haunting but vague memories. She seems to take very little joy in what she has. Perhaps this will be meaningful to those who have experienced adoption, as parent or child, but the book simply seemed very sad and prolonged to me, with many issues never resolved.

Dawn Bishop was sent from her home in Trinidad to Venezuela when she was 16 to give birth secretly. Now nearing 60 with two adult sons and living in England, she still longs to find the daughter that was taken from her. This is a slow, quiet book that felt more about Trinidad than about finding her daughter.

Fans of Elizabeth Strout will find familiar terrain in Claire Adam's "Love Forms," a story about a woman who had given birth as a teenager and gave the baby away. Now a mature mother of grown sons, Dawn wants to find the child she gave away.

Her story comes across as a stream of consciousness. I didn't really get a sense of where the story was headed until chapter five. Dawn tells her story, interrupting her narrative to give asides. It's a meandering tale that I struggled to engage with.

Eventually, the story started to unfold, and I got interested. Then, it was over.

I've read plenty of Strout's work. Her characters tend to meander through their day, narrating their seemingly mundane interactions. This book was similar.

I wanted so badly to fall in love with this story of Dawn searching for her adopted child and yet, the overwhelming sadness of Lover Forms by Claire Adam made the journey difficult. I believe this is probably a higher rated book for some, but it was just okay for my reading temperate. I wanted to finish the story because the first few chapters were so compelling and now I just feel a sense of loss with this story. It is heavy and heartbreaking.