Review: The Possibility of You by Pamela Redmond

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (February 21, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 1451616422
• Source: Publisher

Three women from three different worlds. Each are forced to make a personal decision that influence subsequent generations.

Bridget (1916)-A nanny for a young boy. She’s more of a mother to him that the woman who birthed him. When he is torn from their arms, she is forced to relive his passing, day after day. She loses part of herself the day he dies and becomes forever connected to the woman she worked for.

Billie (1976)-After her father passes away, she discovers a part of her family, and a deep dark secret,  she’d never realized existed.

Cait (present day)-Adopted, she never really wanted/needed more from her parents. Yet, she always finds herself running…from life, but mostly from herself. She decides to track down the mother she gave away, in hopes that this discovery will help her make the decision about keeping her own unborn child.

Each of these three women have one thing in common: they have become unexpectedly pregnant. As they search for a decision about the fate of their unborn child’s life, they also search for their own personal identity, a sense of belonging. Their decisions tear apart families and friendships, but in doing so forge new, more stable relationships.

Set in New York, important movements in the history of women’s rights in the background, The Possibility of You, is at the core more than simply a novel about the lives of three women, forever changed by potential motherhood. It also deals with a whole host of other topics and issues, including racism, family, and an incredibly timely topic: the right to have access to birth control/family planning. It is a truly endearing, yet complex, tale with incredibly rich and sympathetic characters. We learn a great deal about each of these women, ultimately rewarded by learning how they are each connected in the end. This is a book that will be savored by women of all ages, talked about at book clubs, and at the dinner table at night. It is a book that I can see hitting the big screen; I found myself planning the casting in my head as I read along. An emotionally charged, completely addictive book I recommend wholeheartedly.