BOOK NEWS
Meredith Efken uses her own experiences as an adoptive mother of a Chinese girl in her latest novel, Lucky Baby. The summary says: "After surviving an emotionally abusive childhood, Meg struggles to redefine who she is but is haunted by her past. In adopting a child from China, she hopes to prove to herself that she isn't the self-centered person her parents have always told her she is. She longs to give that child the love and unconditional acceptance she never felt in her own family. Her husband, Lewis, is an established physicist who has it all except the love of the mother who abandoned him. He never wanted to be a father but doesn't want to deny Meg the only thing she ever begged of him, even though he is terrified about the prospect of becoming a parent. And yet, despite their best intentions, Meg and Lewis find that things go poorly. Their daughter, Eva, rejects them as parents and they are left wondering whether they will ever be able to connect with her in the loving, intimate way they'd imagined." Efken has written two previous novels, SAHM I Am, and @Home for the Holidays. Lucky Baby is out in April.