My Only Daughter

Imagine it. Out of the blue, you receive a letter telling you that the child you've raised and loved was switched at birth with another.

What do you do?

This is the conundrum that Margo and Cassie face. Margo and her daughter Elsa live in a small village in Ireland. Cassie and her daughter Tilly live in the United States. Both women gave birth in France, and due to a hospital employee's negligent actions, they both went home with the wrong babies.

Margo and Cassie must face this difficult situation alone – Margo because of her husband's death, Cassie due to divorce and the fact that when her soon-to-be-ex learned Tilly wasn't his biological daughter, he pretty much dropped her like a hot potato. Lawyers on both sides advise against contact. But both women know that only they know what is best for their daughters, and they'll have to sort this situation out themselves. So Cassie and Tilly make the journey to Ireland to meet Margo and Elsa.

This story, y'all. It really stuck with me. I was adopted as a baby, and the concept of nature versus nurture has always fascinated me. Here, we see two mothers meeting their biological daughters for the first time as preteens. Do they see themselves, their husbands, in the features and gestures of a child raised by another family? What has shaped the daughters they raised, their upbringing or their genetics? Or maybe it's both.

I'm an attorney by education, and I couldn't just take off my attorney hat while I read. It boggled the mind a little, the extent to which both women just disregarded legal advice after no doubt investing a lot of time and money into hiring their respective legal counsel. But Ann O'Loughlin packs a lot of emotion in this book. That really carried the story for me and made this a compelling read. It isn't just the switched girls. It's all of the other things they're dealing with that draw the two women closer together – death of a loved one, the struggles of divorce, illness. And I did love how Margo's friends eventually expanded their circle to include and support Cassie and Tilly, too.

Family doesn't come in one form. (I know that better than some – adopted, birth family, two sets of in-laws along the way. My family tree is a family flow chart!) Ann O'Loughlin illustrates that beautifully here, and that is the heart of this story – family found, sustaining each other even through the most challenging circumstances. An excellent read!