Nic Brown (1) (1976–)

Nineteen-year-old Maria finds herself enmeshed in difficult circumstances: her mother has been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and while Maria is trying to deal with that she discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant. She makes the decision to give up her child [a girl she names Bonacieux] for adoption, choosing a couple she recognizes from Beaufort, the town where she and her mother have spent their summers. Later, when she and her mother just happen to be in Beaufort for an extended stay, Maria finagles her way into their lives, becomes their babysitter and then begins an affair with the adoptive father.

Maria’s thoughtless, self-serving actions, largely focused on her desire to be with the daughter she gave up for adoption, create a disastrous situation and unleash destruction on the family that she so carefully chose for her baby. By the time she comes to the realization that her decisions and choices need to be about what is best for the child, readers are apt to be completely unsympathetic to her.… (meer)