Mothers of Fate bookcover

Mothers of Fate

Lynne Hugo 

(Author)

This title will be released on

calendar iconApril 22, 2025

4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world

Description

From award-winning novelist Lynne Hugo, Mothers of Fate, a masterful story of three women and a young man navigating the complexities of adoption and its aftermath that raises a question for every reader. Does fate direct our lives--or do our own choices?

"Secrets emerge, relationships fracture, but out of the wreckage, Hugo has built a moving, extraordinary story of hope. I loved it." -- Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Days of Wonder Deana Wilkes, who's needed braces to walk since a disabling accident long ago, seeks out Monica Connell, an attorney, to find the child she was forced to relinquish in a closed adoption thirty years ago. Back then, Deana believed that the passion between her and Tony, her married boss, meant they were destined for each other. It was wrong, Deana knew, but believed it was also meant to be. Tony's long gone now, and Deana's constructed a life out of the wreck of their affair. She's ready to finally make things right and meet her son. But Monica's wife, Angela, was adopted herself after an early history of abandonment and foster homes. Devoted to the memory of her parents, she's certain that closed adoptions need to remain closed unless the adoptee seeks contact. She draws a red line: Monica cannot take the case. Monica, though, feels compelled to help Deana by her own complicated history, one she's never revealed to Angela. As this wedge between them hardens, will Angie or Monica have the best custody claim to their own beloved adopted baby? Nobody knows what Deana's son wants, including his adoptive parents. Not even redheaded Suzanne, and the possibility of love. After all, as an Iraq war vet and a long-distance truck driver, Daniel knows everything about hitting the road to avoid the confusion that's plagued his life. Lynne Hugo's thirteenth novel takes on the reverberating effects of sexual power dynamics in the workplace and vividly portrays lingering psychological wounds as characters struggle to reconcile self-determination with the sacrifices love demands.,

Product Details

PublisherBlank Slate Press
Publish DateApril 22, 2025
Pages305
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9781943075911
DimensionsN/A

About the Author

Lynne Hugo is an American author whose roots are in New England. A National Endowment For The Arts Fellowship recipient, she has also received repeat individual artist grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her publications include ten novels, as well as a memoir, Where the Trail Grows Faint, which won the Riverteeth Creative Nonfiction Book Prize. She has also published two books of poetry and a children's book. She lives with her husband, a photographer, in the Midwest. The couple have two children, three grandchildren, and an energetic beagle/Lab mix who excels at barking, retrieving tennis balls, and terrorizing squirrels. Ms. Hugo has taught creative writing to hundreds of schoolchildren through the Ohio Arts Council's renowned Arts in Education program. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Connecticut College, and a Master's from Miami University. When an editor asked her to describe herself as a writer, she responded: "I write in black Wal-Mart capri sweatpants. They don't start out as capris, but I routinely shrink them in the drier by accident. And I always buy black because it doesn't show where I've wiped the chocolate off my hands. Now that my son and daughter are grown, my previous high grade of 'below average' in Domestic Achievement has dropped somewhat. But I'm less guilty about it now. I lose myself in crafting language by a window with birdfeeders hanging in the branches of a Chinese elm towering over the house. When I come up for air, I hike by the ponds and along the river in a nearby forest with my beloved Lab. My husband, with whom I planted that elm as a bare root sapling, joins us when he can."

Reviews

"With her usual engaging prose, Lynne Hugo unspools a tender tale of parenthood in all its many faces as her characters struggle to live with the outcome of their past decisions. Those past choices color the present in bold strokes, raising the stakes to keep the pages turning. Hugo's compassion for her characters--and her readers--shines through." --Diane Chamberlain, New York Times bestselling author of The Last House on the Street "Lynne Hugo's brilliantly prismatic story is about choice versus destiny, forgiveness versus acceptance, all told through the lens of a heartbreaking adult adoptee, his adoptive parents, his birth mother who is now desperate to contact her son, and the attorney she hires who is part of a Lesbian couple with an adopted bi-racial child. Secrets emerge, relationships fracture, but out of the wreckage, Hugo has built a moving, extraordinary story of hope. I loved it." --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder "Lynne Hugo, a writer of immense talent and rare insight, dips her sharp yet sympathetic pen in a well of revelation as she brings each character to life. I cared and worried about all of them, despite their transgressions, rooting for them to find their path [...]Mothers of Fate places self-determination on the stand." --Randy Susan Meyers, internationally bestselling author "In MOTHERS OF FATE, Hugo explores, from many angles, the often beautiful, sometimes difficult, and always complex relationships surrounding any adoption--relationships with those you love the most and with those that you have never met." --Jeff Hoffmann, author of Like It Never Happened and Other People's Children PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS WORK "Above all, The Language of Kin is a beautifully written and poignant tale of compassion and love for the people and creatures that surround us." --BookTrib

"A work of fiction that rises to an impressive level of literary excellence..." --Midwest Book Review

"An engrossing novel that is sure to tug at anyone's heartstrings." --Readers' Favorite

"....everything that I look for in a five-star plus read - a fantastic plot with likable main characters who are very well written plus the opportunity to learn something new." --Girl Who Reads

"The Language of Kin takes something we all possess but likely take for granted--our ability to communicate with others--and has us examine that gift with new eyes. Hugo's words are beautiful, but this riveting story shows us how words can often fail, and forces us to see the many other ways we communicate, sometimes even unintentionally. This novel is an emotional read full of page-turning highs and cathartic sorrows. I fell in love with this complicated, compelling cast, both human and otherwise." --Katrina Kittle, author of Morning In This Broken World

"Brilliant, fascinating and deeply moving ... gracefully written, this is a book that astonishes, even as it shows the way to cross divides ... Full of science, love and drama, I couldn't love this book more if I tried." --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You

"A timeless and immersive story exploring the complexities of human engagement and the lengths we will go for those we love."--Donna Everhart, USA Today bestselling author of The Education of Dixie Dupree

"Filled with empathy for all and a plot that will keep you flipping pages as fast as you can." --Audrey Schulman, author of the Philip K Dick award winning Theory of Bastards

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.sign up to affiliate program link
Become an affiliate