Like I've said before I love books on China and adoption. So I was really looking forward to reading Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China by Beth Nonte Russell. It's a biography which can be expected to be interesting since there's adoption involved.
Alex asks Beth to accompany her to China when she travels there to adopt a baby girl. Beth accepts, even though they're not exactly best friends. When Alex is given her daughter, she panics - she thinks that the baby is the wrong age and the whole situation seems amiss altogether. Beth tries her best to try to keep Alex from crumbling and takes care of the baby while letting Alex have her rest. All the time of course hoping that Alex will get stronger and will be able to start getting attached to the baby. Soon it's apparent that Alex is regretting the adoption process and will not ever want the baby. What can Beth do? She is strongly attached to the baby and feels that an exceptional bond has formed between them.
This is a very emotional book and brings forth all kinds of questions and thoughts. Why doesn't Alex take her family with her to China? An adoption trip is so special that families usually travel together. The book blatantly exposes that Alex and her family have not been properly prepared for adoption (councelling, etc) and the traumas/losses they have gone through haven't been resolved. The feelings bubbling under can be awakened by the stress of adoption and this is exactly what happens to Alex and of course in these situations it's inevitably the child that suffers the most. Will this baby be returned to the orphanage? Will it survive?
The book is beautifully written, the present woven into the dreams Beth is having on ancient China. There's a excerpt from this book in my earlier post on Iceland. I read this book on the flight back home and though that Beth really describes beautifully what happens to us who are touched by the places we visit. Read this book!
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