Title: Another’s Child
Author: Einat Danon
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction
Rating: 3,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine inheriting a child that you don’t even know!

One morning, Yael and Arik Katz are startled by a surprise inheritance: Noa, the ten-year-old daughter of Canadian friends with whom they had made a long-forgotten will-exchange agreement, is delivered to their doorstep with no warning. Why did her parents decide that she should grow up with acquaintances rather than family? How do you raise a girl you do not even know?

Secrets and lies are revealed and everything starts to get complicated

Noa does not find her place in Israel. Yael takes her back to Toronto to look for a more suitable adoptive home. The search reveals answers to questions that have not even been asked about parenthood, marital relations, love, one’s home, and the fragility of life.

Can life ever be the same again?

As Yael delves into Noa’s past to better understand her, she discovers some unflattering things about her own partner and that the connection between her family and Noa is deeper than it had seemed. These shocking revelations leave Yael with a serious dilemma about her own family relationships.

Another’s Child offers an intriguing concept. One morning, Yael and Arik Katz receive a surprise inheritance: the ten-year-old daughter of Canadian friends with whom they’d made a long-forgotten will-exchange agreement arrives on their doorstep, with no warning beforehand. Why did her parents decide it better for her to grow up with distant acquintances than family? How do you raise a girl you don’t know? Can Noa, the girl, make a home for herself in Israel?

When Yael takes Noa back to Toronto to find a more suitable adoptive home for the ten-year-old, it raises important questions about parenthood, love, the fragility of life, and what the meaning is of a place you can call home. As Yael delves deeper into Noa’s past, she discovers secrets that make her question everything she’s ever believed in.

The characters were intriguing, especially the dynamics between Yael and Noa had me interested. The story itself is rather original, although the plot of suddenly having to take care of a child you’ve never seen, reminded me of a comedy movie I’d once seen. But apart from that, I hadn’t seen this plot before, so I quite enjoyed it, as well as the focus on family relationships and dynamics.

The writing didn’t always convince me, though, and I found it a little subpar to the rest of the book, hence why I didn’t rate it 4 stars. But don’t let that stop you, the story is quite enjoyable and the characters are very interesting.

Title: A Dog’s Luck
Author: Liora Barash Morgenstern
Genre: Psychological, Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

People, dogs, and what lies between them

Ellie, a young woman writing her philosophy dissertation, becomes disrupted by echoes from the past. She follows the voices replaying in her mind to an introspective examination of her childhood and adolescence within her extended family. This intimate inspection of relationships between family members–and the family’s dogs–leads her to uncover three generations of the family secrets and the focal points of tension in the family’s history.

A story of love, separation and longing

A Dog’s Luck is a unique, moving and thought-provoking work of literary art that deals with existential issues in a heartfelt, high-tempo and dynamic style. It touches on love, separation and longing, in an expressive, multi-layered language that provokes the readers to reflect upon subtle nuances of their own inner worlds.

In A Dog’s Luck, author Liora Barash Morgenstern explores the relationship between family members and the family’s dogs, and how this relates to three generations of family secrets. The main character, Ellie, who is writing her philosophy dissertation, replays her childhood and adolescence in her mind, uncovering these relationships and finding out more about herself and her family in the process.

The book is literary fiction, so the style is quite flowery at times, but it didn’t bother her. It’s quite an introspective book too, an touches upon several existential issues. I enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to fans of women’s fiction and/or literary fiction.