Love Forms

Claire Adam

£9.99

Trinidad, 1980: Dawn Bishop, aged 16, leaves her home and journeys across the sea to Venezuela. There, she gives birth to a baby girl, and leaves her with nuns to be given up for adoption. Dawn tries to carry on with her life – a move to England, a marriage, a career, two sons, a divorce – but through it all, she still thinks of the child she had in Venezuela, and of what might have been. Then, forty years later, a woman from an internet forum gets in touch. She says that she might be Dawn’s long-lost daughter, stirring up a complicated mix of feelings: could this be the person to give form to all the love and care a mother has left to give?

In stock

Publish Date: 21/05/2026

Description

** AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW **

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ENCORE AWARD. LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE.

'A quietly devastating masterpiece.' MARIAN KEYES
'Adam is a master storyteller.' SARA COLLINS
'Exquisitely written … compelling and tender.' MONIQUE ROFFEY

In the heart-aching new novel from the author of the award-winning Golden Child, a mother searches for the daughter she left behind a lifetime ago.

When Dawn Bishop was sixteen, she left her home in Trinidad and journeyed across the sea to Venezuela. There, she gave birth to a baby girl and returned to Trinidad alone.

Dawn tried to carry on with her life: a move to England, a marriage, two sons and a divorce. But she never stopped thinking of her daughter and of what might have been.

Forty years later, a woman gets in touch on an internet forum, claiming that she might be her long-lost daughter. Dawn dares to hope that this may be a way back to her past. Could she finally give form to all the love and care a mother has left to offer?

'Reads like a Claire Keegan short story expanded by Elizabeth Strout.'
THE TIMES
'From the very first page, I knew I was in the hands of a master storyteller. An utterly arresting tale of love and grief, of the wounding and healing powers of family, of the many guises of a mother's love. It's an absolute triumph.'
SARA COLLINS
'Exquisitely written. A compelling and tender story of what – and who – is hidden in almost every family that feels as old as the hills and yet acutely contemporary.'
MONIQUE ROFFEY
'An arresting voice that made me think of silk: its delicate beauty belies its intrinsic strength.'
CLAIRE KILROY
'A compelling read taking us to the heart of difficult family situations and evocative secret places.'
ROMESH GUNESEKERA

Additional information

Dimensions 198 × 129 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

304

Language

English

Edition

|Paperback original

Dewey

823.92 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K