ÿLara Allen seems to have it all. A linguist for the Foreign Office, she speaks five languages and has the ear of world leaders and government ministers. But there is one part of her life that leaves an ache which all her success can never fill ? a daughter she gave away at nineteen after a chance encounter while waitressing in Portugal. Returning sixteen years later for her sister?s hen night, Lara finds herself drawn back to that time, and to the family who had adopted her child. After sixteen years of staying strong, she finds herself wanting to know what happened, and wanting to peek into the life of the girl she left behind. By turns funny and moving, this is a heart-warming story of families coming together, and sharing their hopes and their regrets. Filled with fascinating characters and great locations, A Summer?s Child is a poignant reminder that sometimes the things we think we?ve lost can still be found, and in the end there is nothing like family to teach us how to live, and how to forgive.

Solveig, Anne, and Libby each grow up in a different time and place, with different values. Solveig's story begins the journey of the Jorgenson family as they immigrate from Norway and try to fit into the unfamiliar surroundings of New Oslo, Minnesota. With the arrival of their first American-born child, Anne, the Jorgenson's lives begin to unravel. An outsider in her own family for all of her life, Anne Jorgenson doesn't understand why her parents don't love her. Fame only widens the gap she feels. When her oldest brother, Karl, takes the first step toward reconciliation, Anne is guardedly receptive. It takes an accident involving Anne's daughter, Libby, to finally bring Anne back to Minnesota, in an attempt to heal past hurts and reunite a family torn apart by their differences.

In the 1800s Mongoloid children were thought to be idiots. They were generally taken away at birth and put into institutions. They were neglected, sometimes starved and often died before the age of 20. Those who did live spent their whole lives and institutions. Since the mid-1970s these children are now called Down’s Syndrome children.

Early on the morning of her eleventh birthday, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea—an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria. Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal young woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria's childhood and now a television producer, returns at Shelly's request to do a story about the circumstances surrounding her birth, something precarious shifts in the small town of Kill Devil Hills. The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as closely guarded secrets and the sins of that long-ago summer begin to surface. Piece by piece, the mystery of summer's child is being exposed, a mystery that no one involved—not Shelly, Daria, not even Rory—is prepared to face.

Early one morning, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, eleven-year-old Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea — an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria and her family. Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria's past and now a television producer, returns to do a story on the mystery of Shelly's birth, something precarious shifts in the small village of Kill Devil Hills. The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as dark sins and closely guarded secrets begin to surface. Piece by piece, the mystery of summer's child is being exposed, and it's a mystery that no one involved is prepared to solve.

THERE’S A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS RESERVED FOR MIRACLES… From Luanne Rice, the celebrated author of Beach Girls and many other New York Times bestsellers, comes this powerful novel of a mystery, a love affair, and a bond that cannot be broken set in a seaside town where miracles are made... On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to water her garden–and was never seen again. Years after her disappearance, no one could forget the expectant mother whose glowing smile had captured the heart of everyone who’d known her: Maeve Jameson, still mourning the loss of a granddaughter she had struggled to protect…Patrick Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with a vanished woman…and Lily Malone, drawn to the rugged beauty of the Nova Scotia coast and its promise of a new life. Here Lily hopes to raise her nine-year-old daughter, Rose, far from the pain and loss of the past. Here she will meet a gifted scientist, Liam Neill, whose life is on a similar trajectory from heartbreak to hope. And before the season is over, Lily will find the magic that exists in people we love the best…the everyday miracles that can make the extraordinary happen anywhere.