Changeling

My first visions of the universe are indelibly imprinted in my head . . . The sky was alive and vibrating, bringing out the explorer in me.

I thought of all the answers out there waiting to meet my questions . . .' Jean is the cuckoo in her family nest , her mother believes her to be a changeling, left in the cradle when her own perfect baby was snatched away.

This unhappy relationship causes Jean to drift, unsure of her place in the world. And then Jean gives birth to her own daughter, the legacy of a brief relationship, and everything is changed.

For Sugar Pea becomes Jean's life, her love, her whole sense of being. And when the doctors, her neighbours, her friends try to tell her that something is wrong, Jean refuses to accept it.

She seeks comfort in a world of her own, which includes her disabled daughter, the stars and the patterns of life that surround them.

For Jean, it is a question of making sense of the cards she has been dealt, learning to face the challenge of acceptance and of love without question or judgement. In this evocative, extraordinary novel, Melissa Diem writes with passion and rare honesty of the unique sense of love that a mother holds for her child.