I reach out, arms aching to hold my newborn baby, and catch just a glimpse of soft, dark brown hair before someone pushes me back onto the bed. "It’s alive," says the woman who delivered my child before she places something over my face. My last thought is of my baby’s first cry before my world goes dark.

In 1964, when 17-year-old Laura Sims realizes she’s pregnant, her boyfriend, Pete, says they will look after and love their baby together, but Laura’s mother turns on them in fury. Wrenched from her home and the boy she loves, Laura is thrown into a home for unmarried mothers. With no access to the outside world and treated harshly, Laura fights to keep her child safe and find a way to escape the nightmare.

In 2015, despite the anguish of losing their firstborn, Laura and Pete have been happily married for 50 years. But they’ve never given up on their lost child. And when Laura uncovers a tattered old diary from someone who worked at the home where she last saw her child, her heart breaks in two: Those who ran the home sold their baby to a desperate, childless family.

Such cruel actions give Laura and Pete a tiny sliver of hope. Is there a chance to find their child, safe and happy, or will their search bring them only heartbreak and devastation?

A totally heart-wrenching and utterly gripping novel about how far a mother will go to find her child. Before We Were Yours, Sold on a Monday, and The Orphan Train fans will be swept away by this gorgeous novel that reminds us to never give up on those we love.