Julie Clark’s The Ones We Choose was released by Gallery Books on May 8, 2019. As a family practice doctor and the mother of an adopted son, I loved this book. The scientific aspects of DNA and genetics appealed to me as did the fact that the protagonist, Paige, worked as a scientist and, like me, was never a stay-at-home mom. I was also intrigued by Paige’s dilemma of having conceived a child with an anonymous sperm donor then having to deal with the repercussions in a child’s life. I see some of these same questions of identity as I watch my son search for the birth mother who abandoned him at the hospital immediately after his birth.
The company 23 and Me, a genetic testing firm, was mentioned in The Ones We Choose. My son sent his saliva off to be tested, with my blessing, to give him some sense of where he came from. Along with DNA testing from National Geographic, we were able to piece together a bit of his distant family history (for example, that his ancestors left Ethiopia 3000 years ago).
The characters, even the secondary ones, were particularly well-drawn. Clark’s prose was simple yet compelling as she portrays Paige dealing with the childhood trauma of being abandoned by a non-nurturing parent, the trials of a single mother working full-time while raising a child, the gut-wrenching of seeing her son, Miles, unhappy, being bullied, seeking answers she can’t give, and being unable to “fix” these problems, plus her inability to let Liam, her boyfriend, close enough to form an enduring relationship, always choosing her son over her lover and protecting her heart from being abandoned by another man.
I enjoyed this book on all levels. Clark weaves subplots such as Paige’s career (ironically, her research is on non-bonding of fathers with their children), the boyfriend, and her family, including her father who has come and gone Paige’s entire life. There are enough twists to keep the reader enthralled.
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