What Was Mine

A Novel

By: Helen Klein Ross, Rebekkah Ross, Jonathan Todd Ross

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Cassandra Campbell, Amanda Carlin

“A suspenseful, moving look at twisted maternal love and the limits of forgiveness.” —People

“Not only a terrific, spellbinding read but a fascinating meditation on the choices we make and the way we love.” —Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author

Simply told but deeply affecting, in the bestselling tradition of Alice McDermott and Tom Perrotta, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore—and gets away with it for twenty-one years.

Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends.

When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood.

Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.

Really great story well performed!

Where does What Was Mine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A goodie!

What did you like best about this story?

A well crafted story that was performed very well.

Any additional comments?

A really great "read".

Who what when where

Sorry but this was just too convoluted .
Interesting concept and characters, but so much jumping from one character to another,one place to another,etc.
Maybe it was just me, but I kept getting lost.

Compelling, refreshing point of view

This book is not a thriller, it's a psycho-drama, exploring "why" something happened, not the who or how. I like that the story is told from a very different POV than most abduction stories.This book kept me listening through the end without skipping ahead. This is unusual for many books I've read or listened to lately. There were a couple of plot devices that were a bit far-fetched, but as they did not disturb the "psychology" of the moment, it was forgivable. Good job, and a recommended read.

Wait. .. it's over already?

Loved it. Characters each telling their respective was really great. Its such an interesting story!

great story

Any additional comments?

as soon as it was finished i immediately typed the authors name in to see what else she had.