Sins of the Daughter

Sins of the Daughter is a compelling character-driven story about the complicated and fractured bonds between three generations of women that illustrates how past experiences and decisions have a long-lasting impact on future relationships and familial expectations.

This intergenerational story is told from the perspectives of Danah, her mother Jane Lily and her grandmother Edith in both past and present. The shifts in time and perspective were done smoothly and added depth to the story. Readers witness Jane Lily's childhood and her fragile bond with her mother Edith, to Jane Lily becoming a mother herself, her sudden abandonment of her daughter Danah and the effects that these decisions and the reactions to them have on all three generations. I enjoyed how the author slowly peeled away the layers and experiences of each of the three narrators, giving clarity about how and why these damaged relationships festered and resulted in their current estrangement.

The characters are vividly rendered within a story that explores emotional themes of abandonment, betrayal, and loneliness, but also identity, family, hope and redemption. Thought-provoking and affecting, this is a story about the intricacies of family bonds and the longing for connection between mothers and daughters.

NOTE: Yesterday I attended the book launch for Sins of the Daughter where I met the author and geeked out that my blurb of her first book The Good Son is on the back cover of Sins of the Daughter! How cool is that?!

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Cormorant Books for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Carolyn Huizinga Mills

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Canadian

Type and Source: Trade Paperback from publisher

Publisher: Cormorant Books

First Published: August 27, 2022

Book Description from GoodReads: Danah Calsely was only nine when her mother abandoned her. Years later, as a promising Sociology PhD candidate, Danah appears largely unaffected by this traumatic loss — until she finds a letter that she’s convinced is from her missing mother. The truth about Jane Lily and her disappearance is wrapped in a long history of silence, and Danah’s grandmother, Edith, has no interest in rehashing the past.

Danah becomes obsessed with the letter and the secrets she believes Edith is keeping from her. Edith is convinced she’s only protecting her granddaughter, but she has her own reasons for staying silent. As for Jane Lily herself, she has a certain knack for disappearing.

A story of heartbreak and hope, guilt and redemption, Sins of the Daughter explores the fragility of the bond between mothers and daughters and the domino effect that the choices of one generation have on the next.