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    On Your Doorstep
    Unavailable
    On Your Doorstep
    Unavailable
    On Your Doorstep
    Ebook498 pages7 hours

    On Your Doorstep

    By Laura Elliot

    4/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    Previously published as Stolen Child

    It's every mother's worst nightmare . . .

    Carla Kelly wakes to find her two-day-old baby’s cot cold and empty.

    Her daughter has been taken.

    Desperate and at breaking point, Carla launches a fierce national campaign to find her baby – but the trail runs cold.

    Then she receives an intriguing letter, offering support from a surprising quarter. But it leads Carla into a chain of events that exposes shocking secrets from her past. Someone is out to seek their cold-blooded revenge.

    And it will bring Carla unknowingly closer to the stolen daughter she has sworn she will do anything to get back …

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateJul 22, 2010
    ISBN9780007367986
    Unavailable
    On Your Doorstep
    Author

    Laura Elliot

    Laura Elliot is the pseudonym of children’s writer and journalist June Considine. She is already a bestseller in her native Ireland. The Prodigal Sister is her UK debut.

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    Reviews for On Your Doorstep

    4/5

    23 ratings5 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Evie was adopted at birth. As she begins to behave strangely, her mother find a card and gifts from her 'real father'. Things quickly turn into a nightmare.What a brilliant book. Slightly different and a real page turner. I loved it
    • 5/5
      When I first began Stolen Child, I thought I was going to be reading a Psychological Thriller about a stolen baby and the hunt to find her kidnapper. This book was less a “thriller” and more of a psychological character study of two very different women, their families, and the tragedy that shaped all of their lives. I absolutely loved this book and found it utterly fascinating. As a mother, some parts were really hard for me to read; I kept placing myself in Carla’s shoes, wondering how I would have dealt with the kidnapping of my child. My emotions were running so high at the beginning of this book that a few times I actually slammed my kindle down and yelled (to no one in particular), “Enough! I can’t read this anymore!” Of course, a few minutes later I was stealthily sneaking back towards said kindle - I just had to find out what happened next! I love books that can invoke this type of emotion from me and I can honestly say it doesn’t happen very often!

      Stolen Child begins from the viewpoint of Susanne and we quickly learn that her body has failed and betrayed her yet again, she’s just miscarried her fifth baby. I instantly felt for her and connected deeply with her heartache and despair. Laura Elliot, the author, was brilliant in starting the story this way; allowing the reader to both sympathize with and despise Susanne as she plots out her evil plan. Carla on the other hand is initially portrayed as having it all; she’s beautiful, has a loving husband, an easy pregnancy, and is becoming more famous every day. This celebrity like status puts Carla on the outskirts of the “everyday” mom and I actually didn’t connect with her character right away.

      Of course, this all changes as the story progresses. Carla’s devastating loss and never-ending determination to find her daughter Isobel made me fall absolutely in love with her! Even when everyone else gives up and believes her daughter is dead she pushes on; starting her own investigation and ultimately choosing to continue in her search rather than saving her marriage. Susanne on the other hand becomes cold and distant as her paranoia of being “found out” eats away at her. At times she even becomes physically and emotionally abusive with not just her daughter Joy, but also her husband and this ultimately destroys their marriage.

      I love how Laura Elliot developed Carla and Susanne’s characters; they both took massive U-turns and I was pleasantly surprised. It was this character development that really kept me reading! I also thought the character of Joy/Isobel was wonderful and Elliot captured the emotions of a teenager whose life has been torn to shreds perfectly. Throughout the story we’re introduced to several secondary characters whose relevance is not initially clear. Slowly, these characters and their storylines become intertwined with the main plotline in the most unexpected ways. The author does a fantastic job pulling these interweaving plotlines together and giving the story a very plausible ending that left me thoroughly satisfied!

      The Stolen Child would make an excellent choice for any book club and there are reading group questions provided at the back of the book. I will definitely be recommending this to my book club for our May reading selection. Highly recommend and anxiously waiting to read Laura Elliot’s next book!

      **I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**
    • 3/5
      Carla Kelley is a beautiful and famous model, whose career is only heightened by her pregnancy, as she advertises the maternity line, "Anticipation." Susanne Dowling, meanwhile, lives a quiet and sad life, punctuated by several heart-breaking miscarriages. Her last one seems destined to send her over the edge.

      Shortly after Carla's baby, Isobel, is born, the baby vanishes from the hospital without a trace. The media descends upon the model and her husband, ruining his undercover detective career and threatening their marriage.

      Meanwhile, Susanne and her husband, David, are basking in happiness: their new baby girl, Joy. Susanne finally has the baby she's always wanted. But is she happy?

      The book alternates between Carla and Susanne's points of view and eventually, once she's old enough, we hear from Joy as well. While the story is compelling, I had a hard time getting into the novel as neither Carla and Susanne present as very sympathetic characters, despite their losses. The book becomes more interesting as Joy ages and can tell her side of the story. Much of the tale is more a study in personalities and psychology than a page-turning search for a child. The reader is always aware where the "stolen child" is, even if her parents are not.

      Overall, it's an intriguing read (and an interesting description of a scenario that terrifies many parents - I know I felt agonized reading the moments where Isobel is stolen), if not a little slow at times, with some characters who, while human and complicated, won't always elicit a lot of sympathy.

      (Note: I received a digital copy of this novel in return for an unbiased review.)
    • 4/5
      In 1993, catwalk model, Carla Kelly's baby daughter was stolen. Susanne Dowling had lost five of her own babies and in desperation stole another woman's child. This book follows their lives as the stolen baby grows into a teenage girl.This is a good read, nice short chapters which meant I could read just one more. I sympathised with Carla but Susanne wasn't that pleasant a character. I think the author captured the feelings of Joy/Isobel (the stolen child) well, particularly when she became a teenager. There were a number of coincidences in this book though which just didn't quite ring true but worked well for the purposes of the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading about how a missing child and a stolen child can impact on people's lives in so many different ways.Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy for review.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and you empathized with them. A good way to spend a few hours.