Sabina "Bean" Lilly Wilson is thirty-eight, married, living in Sydney, Australia, and elated that she is pregnant. She and her husband Ted have waited for everything to be perfect before starting their family--at least until she joyously shares the news with her Mum and Dad. The reaction from her mother fractures Sabina's world as she knows it. When eventually told she is adopted, Sabina is horrified that the parents who have drilled her on honesty are the very ones to have kept this secret from her all these years.

Megan and Graeme Baxter have refused to share any information surrounding Sabina's adoption, forcing her to search out every avenue available for clues. An Internet search reveals the Australian government was involved in forced adoption policies from 1960 through 1980, snatching babies from unwed mothers with no recourse. Even though Sabina was given a privileged life with her adoptive parents, finding her biological mother is a burning drive, with a need to know the circumstances by which she was given up and to understand how a mother could walk away from her child. With an overwhelming abundance of emotion and heartbreak, Sabina comes face to face with the reality of her adoptive parents and the parents she never knew existed, who all loved her, and how it will change their lives forever.

THE SECRET DAUGHTER is a disturbing but poignant tale is heartfelt and devastating at the cruelty handed out to these young unwed pregnant girls. Author Kelly Rimmer is an expert at transferring the heartbreak and desperation of the characters to the reader. The story is an exceptionally emotional, sad, but completely fulfilling tale of injustices being brought to task. I have not had the pleasure of reading Rimmer's works before, but will certainly keep an eye out for any future books. I was completely drawn in with the story and could not put it down. Excellent, worthwhile read for any mother!

Book Summary

As I saw my new-born baby’s face for the first time I tried desperately to capture her face in my mind—to stamp it onto my eyelids. As she was taken from me I knew I might never see my daughter again.

37 years later…

‘You were adopted’. Three short words and Sabina’s life fractures. There would forever be a Before those words, and an After.

Pregnant with her own child, Sabina can’t understand how a mother could abandon her daughter, or why her parents have kept the past a secret.

Determined to find the woman who gave her away, what she discovers will change everything, not just for Sabina, but for the women who have loved her all these years.

From the bestselling author of ME WITHOUT YOU comes another touching, beautifully told story about the pain of separation and the enduring strength of love.