What a beautiful read. When Grace's mum Meg is dying she decides to make a video explaining to her daughter what happened at her birth and how she came to be her mum which devastes her but Cassie her birth mother has never told her husband Luke the truth about what happened and when he finally finds out will they be able to get through it together and can Cassie and Grace finally have a relationship. It's a beautifully written novel ,heartbreaking at tmes and I found the circumstances surrounding the birth of her daughter and how Cassie suffered wes such an emotional but important subject Highly recommend this book 5v🌟from mev

The Daughter She Gave Away by Lisa Timoney is a heartbreaking tale of love and loss that centres around a thought provoking moral quandary and the lasting consequences of decisions made in the moment.
The book opens with Meg, a woman making a video for her daughter Grace as she faces her last few weeks following a terminal diagnosis. Grace is beloved by her parents, Meg and Simon, but she does not know that they have been keeping a secret from her for years, she does not know that Meg is not her biological mother. That would be Cassie, Simon's first wife.
Cassie's life is thrown into turmoil when she opens an email from Simon letting her know that Meg has died and Grace knows the truth. He has reached out hoping that Cassie will agree to meet with Grace despite her having terminated all parental rights because she did not want her daughter. This would be difficult enough but in the intervening years Cassie has remarried and had a son, and neither of them know that Grace exists, instead Cassie told her husband Luke that Grace was stillborn. Trapped in a web of her own lies she risks destroying her marriage if she comes clean but can she turn away from a young woman in distress?
This is a very emotional read, and I appreciated that the characters of Meg and Cassie both felt quite real and grounded, both had flaws and issues that meant they were believable and relatable, even if they were sometimes not very likeable. The focus is very much on Cassie and her story for much of the book and seeing how her character grows over the course of the story kept me reading. I thought the portrayal of her life as a teacher was spot on and it shone a real light on how difficult that job can be at times. Seeing her career and marriage implode as she struggled to come to terms with her past choices made for really compelling reading and meant that I devoured this book. I have no hesitation in recommending it to readers who enjoy a good family drama.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

When 35 year old Meg finds out that she has terminal cancer, she makes a series of videos for her beloved 14 year old daughter Grace. She tells her what had been a secret until then - that her birth mother is a woman called Cassie who used to be married to husband Simon, but she rejected the child when her marriage fell apart due to his cheating on her with Meg.

Five months after Meg's death, Simon sends a pleading email to Cassie out of the blue, asking her for help with Grace who is increasingly withdrawn. It shakes up Cassie's world and brings up old wounds. She is happily married to calm counsellor Luke, they have a 7 year old son called Alf and she is a teacher. She doesn't want to think about Grace because she never told Luke about the fact she's still alive - Luke somehow thinks she died at birth. The emotional fallout from this email is huge - will their marriage survive it?

The melodramatic blurb concentrates on Meg when in the book the story concentrates on Cassie, and rightly so. The blurb paints Meg as a bit of a saint who took on a child unwanted by her mother but the reality is that she was cheating with Cassie's husband Simon, and when Cassie fell into a deep depression, took the opportunity to take the child she had fallen in love with from her unstable mother instead of offering help for her mental health crisis.

This is extremely well-written, and I would read a shopping list if written by this author under whichever of her pen names. There are two timelines, present day and six months ago, plus countless flashbacks but it never gets confusing. I loved the insight into Cassie's school world, with unruly pupils, lots of rules and teacher pals.

We also see the impact Cassie and Luke's increasingly shaky marriage has on their young son who can't understand what's going on but senses that something isn't right, and starts acting out and avoiding school. Luke is a lovely man but his constant therapy speak and insistence on absolute honesty grated after a while.

I liked Cassie but I got no real sense of Simon and Meg and I wonder whether it was a conscious choice by the author. There was a lot of emotional conflict that directly resulted from their affair and I would have liked a bit more than "we just couldn't help ourselves". You always have a choice.

The book kept me engaged throughout and I cared about Cassie and the outcome of her disciplinary hearing at school just as much as about whether she would restart contact with her daughter. Recommended if you like emotional family dramas.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of The Daughter She Gave Away.
This book was a very emotional read. It deals with depression and keeping secrets, among other things. It was a hard read at some points, but I also did not want to put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind crying while they read.

Wow what a book! I couldn't put it down. I finished it before work this morning and my eyes are still red raw from crying so hard. It had me on an emotional rollercoaster and I felt all the emotions. What a beautiful book!

14 years of being Grace's mum Meg gets the devastating news that she has a terminal illness, sadly this means Meg and her husband Simon have to reveal the truth behind Grace's birth. Meg decides,to ease the pain, she will make a series of videos for Grace to watch.
Cassie, a teacher, married with a young son, is horrified to receive an email from her ex husband Simon. She's never told her husband about Grace and finds it hard now to open up to him, feeling that he will judge her for her decisions all those years ago. These secrets though threaten all that she holds dear and also impact on Grace's life
5 hours, thats all the time it took me to read this heartbreaking but wonderful novel by Lisa Timoney. It's such a powerful read, highlighting the need for self forgiveness, not only for Grace but for Meg as well. I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed this book. It was suspenseful and gripping and it most definitely kept me engaged throughout.
I will be checking out more of Lisa's books!

Thanks to Boldwood Books for giving me the chance to review this as an ARC. I've already read a couple of this author's books, but this was definitely the best one so far. I do like this genre of book (emotional family drama) but all too often they have a very sudden ending, which is disappointing. This book doesn't – the ending was absolutely perfect. It was beautifully written and all the characters were very lifelike. Highly recommended.

Full of emotion, secrets and lies that can tear a young child's world apart. The book tore me in two and it was hard to put back together. It's a impossible situation with heartbreaking choices.

The story centers around Meg, who faces a devastating diagnosis and worries about the future of her husband, Simon, and their beloved 14-year-old daughter, Grace. Adding to their turmoil, Meg knows she must reveal a lifelong secret to Grace: Simon is her father, but Meg is not her birth mother. Grace's biological mother, Cassie, Simon's first wife, had given her up as a baby. Meg and Simon stepped in, offering Grace a life filled with love and happiness.

However, in their darkest hour, Meg believes Grace deserves the opportunity to connect with her birth mother, as she will be the only mother Grace has left. The story explores the profound dilemma Meg faces: can she risk shattering the family she has carefully built for the chance that Grace might find another mother? Will Grace meet Cassie and does Cassie's family know about Grace.

A powerful and poignant exploration of family bonds and the sacrifices we make for those we love. An emotional story full of twists and turns.