Review - Mother Tongue by Joyce Kornblatt
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Mother Tongue is the story of Nella. After her mother’s death, she finds a letter of confession telling her that she was kidnapped from the hospital as a baby. The book is Nella’s perspective of working through that traumatic revelation.
Through the course of the story, Nella describes her childhood in Australia, her relationship with the woman she knows as her mother, and her marriage to Alex. We also see Alex’s perspective of his own trauma and Nella’s sister Leah’s perspective of the aftermath of the kidnapping. Finally, we see the perspective of Deborah, Nella’s birth mother.
This book is about mothers and children. It’s about the complex relationships we have with our mothers and the trauma children experience when they are separated from their mothers. This book is also about lost children and the effect that has on their mothers. Are we formed by our DNA or are we formed by the relationships we have? Or perhaps a bit of both?
Mother Tongue had me riveted. The author, Joyce Kornblatt, does an amazing job of weaving an intricate tale of complicated relationships, both lost and found, broken and reforged. The prose is beautiful. The characters are intricate and believable.
I rated this book at 5 stars and I highly recommend it!
Mother Tongue was originally published in 2020. The new edition is set for release September 13, 2022!
