Book Title: Not Yours to Keep
Character Name: Anna Newman
1. How would you describe your family or your childhood?
My childhood was pretty lonely and unhappy until eighth grade. That’s when this one boy started being nice to me. Then something happened. An unexpected turn, you might say. I’ve never talked about it to anyone, and I won’t tell you now either. You know what, though? I never thought I’d see that boy again, but I never stopped loving him.
2. What was your greatest talent?
I didn’t really have any specific talent, but I had a special way with animals. They’re much kinder than humans.
3. Significant other?
I couldn’t have the significant other I wanted. Without him, I’ve just floated between guys, never really caring about any of them, which works out fine because they don’t care either.
4. Biggest challenge in relationships?
The biggest challenge in relationships is giving a crap. I don’t. Though I suppose it would be cool if someone treated me like I mattered. Only one guy ever did. It’s been decades since I’ve seen him, but now I know just where to find him.
5. Where do you live? How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I live in a lousy apartment in a town west of Boston called Graham. It’s close to Hopkinton. The place is just a box where I keep my stuff. It’s not a home. I know what that is, thanks to the loving woman who sheltered me when my life blew up when I was thirteen. The only saving grace to this apartment are the sweet cats that live in the alley.
6. Do you have any enemies?
Enemies? Nah. You’d have to get close enough to someone to offend them that much. It’s hard to make friends when you’re filled to the brim with secrets and memories you can’t let out. There is someone, though, who knows the way to hurt me the most. Yeah, I guess that means I’ve got one enemy.
7. Do you have children?
It’s complicated to answer whether I have children. I gave birth, but I couldn’t keep the baby. No one knew about it. Until now.
8. What do you do for a living?
I’m a scheduler for a plumbing company. It’s not the job I wanted. It’s the only one that stuck.
9. Greatest disappointment? Greatest source of joy?
One of my greatest disappointments was not saying goodbye to the boy I loved. Now that I’ve found him again, I’m filled with joy.
10. What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
I hang out at my local bar.
11. What keeps you awake at night?
Nightmares of my father and the abuse I suffered when I was young keep me awake at night.
12. What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
I worry all the time that my father is going to find my baby. My mother says he can’t. I wish I believed it.
13. Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have?
Things shouldn’t have turned out the way they did. If they had, we’d be living our happily ever after together. I’m gonna fix everything. Then I can be with the two people I’ve always regretted losing—the baby I gave up for adoption, and the man of my dreams.
14. Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
There’s one thing in my way. The awful bitch who’s keeping me from the man I love and the family I need.
Called a “sensational debut” by Rea Frey, this psychological thriller delves into themes of reproductive rights and healthcare, confronting the complexities that define family—or the risks that lose it all.
Billie Campbell, a Massachusetts adoption specialist grappling with fertility issues, dreams of adopting a baby, but not just any baby—her pregnant client’s baby. While her longing threatens to send her down a dark path, her husband, Tyler, is keeping secrets: he’s full of doubts about becoming a father, and he’s also trying to figure out who is sending him upsetting anonymous texts and photos. On the other side of town, Anne, a woman scarred by childhood abuse, obsesses with a second chance at becoming a family with the two people she regrets ever having let go of: the baby she gave up for adoption twenty years ago and the man of her dreams.
Their lives become entangled when the client’s newborn is abducted, and Billie becomes a prime suspect.
Amid the chaos unleashed by the abduction, Tyler uncovers a link between the person tormenting him and the abduction—but now Billie has disappeared too. The race to find both her and the baby is on; but will they find them before it’s too late?
Thriller Domestic | Women's Fiction Psychological [She Writes Press, On Sale: October 8, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781647427245 / eISBN: 9781647427252]
Zelly Ruskin is a social worker who worked in adoption and foster care. She loves traveling, hiking with her (now adult) children, and, as a survivor, is passionate about and volunteers for Brain Aneurysm Awareness. Zelly and her ridiculous doodle, Strudel, currently live in New York City.
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