Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt

Girls in Trouble

Caroline Leavitt

Sara is sixteen, pregnant and her boyfriend Danny appears to have deserted her. She chooses to have the baby adopted - an open adoption whereby she can still be involved in the baby's life. But things are not that simple and the tale that follows is one of both hope and despair. The characters are believable and well developed. This book will tug at your heartstrings and it reeled me in right until the end.

Extract
Danny looked suddenly dazed. He stepped back from Sara. 'What are you talking about? What adoption? What papers? You had an abortion. My mother told me. That day you came to the house furious with me, blaming me, all upset because you had had one.'
'I never had an abortion. It was too late. And I never blamed you.'...
'We had a baby?'
'A girl.'
'What?' He stepped back from her stunned. 'What are you telling me? We have a litle girl?' He stood back from her, looking at her as if he didn't know her.
Sara swiped at her nose, at her eyes. 'I would have gone anywhere with you' Sara said. 'I would have done anything' she said, and then she remembered. Danny's mother standing outside, telling her she knew what it was like to lose a child, what you had to do to protect the ones you loved, and suddenly she felt sick.
'Oh God Sara. You let someone else have our kid?'
Parallels
  • The Battle for Christabel by Margaret Forster
  • Mother of Pearl by Mary Morrissy