No Child of Mine
A Novel
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4.6 • 47 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From internationally bestselling British author Susan Lewis comes an unflinching, thoroughly suspenseful novel—perfect for readers of Jodi Picoult—about the darkest secrets a family can hide.
Alex Lake’s life is centered on helping people. Her job as a social worker in a British seaside town is more than a career: It’s the very essence of who she is. And though there are frustrations, Alex takes to heart the rewards of placing a child in a safe and loving home. But when she encounters three-year-old Ottilie Wade, Alex is completely unprepared for the effect the sweet, shy little girl has on her. Though on the surface Ottilie seems to want for nothing—she’s perfectly healthy and lives in a very nice home—she’s mysteriously silent and asocial. Alex knows that something is not right in the Wade house. And the deeper she looks into the case, the more Alex comes to feel that she and Ottilie are being drawn together by fate.
As disturbing evidence mounts and Alex’s superiors seem unwilling to help, Alex knows she will have to risk everything—her job and the life she loves—to save Ottilie. But Alex will also have to wrestle the demons of her own past before she can secure a future for this child in need.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Susan Lewis's Don't Let Me Go.
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Lewis's new novel a relentless social worker assigns herself a mysterious case of a three-year old with a pedophilic father. After child-protective services in England receive multiple calls from an unidentified source concerning the welfare of a little girl, Alex Lake volunteers to investigate. But after discovering that the father, the deputy head of a local primary school, is less than willing to comply with requests to bring his daughter to a playgroup, schedule a pediatric appointment, and accompany his agoraphobic wife to a psychiatric evaluation, the signs of an abusive home emerge. Lake is forced to proceed with deep caution as she ousts the cunning headmaster. The novel is poorly written with unimaginative sentence structure. This is five-hundred pages of repetitive information that could have been trimmed down to fifty a novella disguised as a novel. The presentation is synthetic. Lewis has published a work filled with stock characters, a tale better suited for television drama.
Customer Reviews
No Child of Mine
This is an excellent book! Heartbreaking, sad and full of hope and the power of love. So glad I read it and ignored the stupid book review I read before I bought the book. Read it and you won't be sorry!
Great story, but with some serious triggers
I loved the writing. The storyline was difficult at many points in the book.
If you’re at all triggered by sexual child abuse, this book may not be for you. But if you’re can separate yourself then it’s a very endearing story of a child that finds love in someone that’s willing to put herself on the line to save a child.
I identified with the adult and the child, so in some ways it was cathartic for me.
Good book!
I want to start by saying I found this book in a dollar general for $4 and wasn't expecting much from it. I haven't finished it yet but its a good book. The storyline is interesting and I find myself connecting with some of the characters. With that said some of the lingo and sentences I just don't understand. I know this book is based in another country so I figured there would be some things I wouldn't understand but I find myself having to read whole pages over.