For fans of Little Fires Everywhere, a novel that explores the ambiguities of motherhood and salvation through the anguished relationship between a troubled, undocumented Mexican teenager and the grieving, upper-middle-class mother who takes her in.

After the drug overdose of her teenage son, Helen, a privileged white woman, takes in Mia, a troubled and undocumented Mexican teenager. 

Although they initially fill each other’s voids, Helen’s lofty expectations of Mia eventually test that bond and Mia, tortured by guilt and starved for affection, runs off with Diego, an MS13 gang leader. While Helen, bereft over losing another child, tries to reconstruct her life, Mia’s life with Diego spirals into a nightmare: Just after she has his baby, he goes to jail for multiple murders. As each woman moves forward through her own challenges, Helen confronts her deep-seated prejudices, while Mia battles her own demons in search of self-identity and meaning in her life.

A haunting and suspenseful cautionary tale, Borrowed Child is about what happens when a well-meaning inclination toward “salvation” goes awry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marguerite Welch is a writer, photographer, and sailor whose eclectic tastes and interests have often led her in unexpected directions. Her articles on photography and travel have appeared online and in various art and literary publications. Her travel memoir, Waterborne: A Slow Trip Around a Small Planet, documents her fourteen-year circumnavigation of the world with her husband, Mike, on a sailboat. Borrowed Child is based on over a decade of experience as a tutor and mentor of children from the underserved communities in her own backyard. To learn more, visit www.margueritewelch.com. Marguerite currently resides in Annapolis, Maryland.