The Secret Daughter- Storyline and Book Review

When 38-year-old Sabina, pregnant with her first child, decides to give the good news to her parents by inviting them over for dinner, they give her the most shocking news. She gets to know that she was adopted as a baby, which means the two people sitting in front of her, who she thought were her parents, are not her actual birth parents. The news leaves Sabina in shock and confusion.

She does not know why her parents kept this information from her all this time and why they suddenly decided to tell her the truth now, that too at such a critical juncture of her life when she needs them the most. Furthermore, she wants to know who her birth parents are, why they abandoned her, and what the real identity of the two people whom she has known as her parents throughout her life is. The questions arising in her mind are endless. To make matters worse, despite her desperate imploration, her parents refuse to offer any further information, which leaves Sabina anguished and hopeless. It also makes her think there is something dark about their past, something they are ashamed of, something that would show them in a bad light, making them hold the information to themselves.

Sabina recalls her lovely childhood and the wonderful years she spent with her parents, who showered her with love and provided her with everything that her heart desired. She is ever so grateful and can’t imagine them as someone with ill intentions. However, she must know the complete story to clear her mind.

After a whole lot of coaxing, when she gets small bits of information about her birth mother’s name and the place she was born, Sabina, with the support of her husband, Ted, decides to start the investigation herself. With no actual proof linking her to her birth parents, this search seems like a walk in the dark, with little hope of finding light at the end of the tunnel. But luck shines on Sabina, and, to her delight, she is able to connect with her birth mother. The excitement is palpable, but Sabina must tread this path carefully and with the least hope so that the pain is not hard to bear if there is disappointment at the end. For she doesn’t know under what circumstances her birth mother abandoned her. Was she taken away or left because her parents didn’t want her?

Sabina must overcome her apprehensions and fears, connect with her birth parents, Lily and James, and find the truth. This is the only way she would find peace and break out of the standstill this news has caused in her life. Sabina visits her birth mother, and the reunion of a mother with her long-lost daughter turns out to be an emotional outbreak. The revelation of the past and the circumstances under which the two separated is poignant and heartbreaking. This brings some bit of closure, but it is still half the story, told by her birth mother, Lily. To knit it all together, Sabina must fill in the blanks by knowing the rest of the story from Megan, the mother who raised her.

The story spans from 1973, when Sabina was born, to 2012, when she learns about her birth parents. It is narrated from three perspectives. Lily, Sabina’s birth mother, describes the part about her life as a young 16-year-old when she becomes an unwedded mother and all that she goes through until she is separated from her daughter. Sabina narrates the part about her life as a 38-year-old woman who goes through an emotional journey exploring the past and reuniting with her birth parents. Finally, it all comes together with Megan’s narration, which reveals the circumstances under which she brings Sabina into her life.

This book also turns the reader’s attention to forced adoption practices, which were quite common between the 1950s and 80s in Australia, in which unmarried women who got pregnant were illegally forced into maternity homes by doctors, nurses, social workers and religious figures, with the assistance of adoption agencies or other authorities. They coerced and drugged the mothers to give their consent to part with their babies and have them adopted by white families. More than 17,000 children were separated from their mothers at birth. Many times, children landed up in orphanages or homes where they were abused, which led to many psychological problems when they grew up. No proper records were often maintained, making reunions almost impossible. In 2012, the prime minister formally apologised to all the parents and children, and a resolution was passed in parliament.

The Secret Daughter is a well-written book that stitches together this dark episode in our history with the heart-warming story of a child who finally reunites with her parents. Fortunately, Sabina benefits from two great mothers who love her and influence her life in different ways. But many children like Sabina, who separated from their parents, didn’t have such a positive end to their story. The book highlights those sad stories, too.

I loved the book and would recommend it to my readers.