BKMT READING GUIDES
Not My Daughter
by Barbara Delinsky
Paperback : 416 pages
10 clubs reading this now
12 members have read this book
When Susan Tate’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an inconceivable tragedy both for Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies ...
Introduction
When Susan Tate’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an inconceivable tragedy both for Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among other high school juniors who happen to be Lily’s best friends. The town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in an emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness.
Editorial Review
Amazon Exclusive: Kristin Hannah Reviews Not My DaughterKristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of 18 novels, including Firefly Lane, On Mystic Lake, Between Sisters, and True Colors. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. Read her exclusive Amazon guest review of Not My Daughter:
In this compelling, ripped-from-the-headline offering from bestselling author Barbara Delinsky, three high school seniors make a pregnancy pact. Heightening the stakes, these aren’t just any seniors--these are three popular, college-bound girls from good families. Set in an insular, tightly knit community in Maine, Not My Daughter explores the consequences of pact behavior on a small town, as well as the strain placed on mothers and daughters who find themselves in unfamiliar terrain. One of the pregnant teens is the daughter of the high school principal--a former teen mother herself--and the local school board is quick to assign blame. When the national media gets wind of the story, the principal’s job is put in jeopardy, as is her standing in the community. Not My Daughter is a timely exploration of teen motherhood and the hard choices that sometimes have to be made in life. Barbara Delinsky, long known as one of the premier authors of women's fiction, once again reveals the hidden strengths of ordinary women when faced with extraordinary adversity.--Kristin Hannah
(Photo © Deborah Feingold)
Discussion Questions
1. What do the novel’s opening pages tell you about Susan’s relationship with her daughter? What advantages and disadvantages does Susan experience as a single parent? Would you have married Rick at age eighteen if you had been in her situation?2. How does Susan’s life compare to the lives of the other moms in the book, Kate, Sunny, and Pam? What do their daughters—Lily, Mary Kate, Jess, and Abby—have in common? Are there any similarities between the way the mothers interact and the girls’ circle of friendship?
3. How did you react when Abby revealed why she had wanted to form a motherhood pact with her friends? What longings were they each hoping to fill by becoming pregnant? Were they seeking unconditional love, rebellion against their parents, or something else altogether? How do their motivations change throughout the novel?
4. Though Not My Daughter is entirely a work of fiction, in the summer of 2008 media coverage erupted over a group of teenage girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts, who allegedly made a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. What does this say about the way our idea of motherhood has changed over generations? Do pregnancy and parenting mean something different to modern women, compared to our grandmothers’ generation?
Weblinks
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Author Barbara Delinsky's web site
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Barbara Delinsky's Facebook Page
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Publisher's Book Info
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Notes From the Author to the Bookclub
A note from author Barbara Delinsky: The most common question I’m asked is “where do you get your ideas?” Well, lots of places. But my newest novel, Not my Daughter, is a perfect example of a plot that comes from the news. Two things happened during the summer of 2008, when I was fishing around for a good book idea. First, from Gloucester MA, came reports of a reputed pregnancy pact formed by 17 high school girls. It turned out not to be a pact. The high school’s principal actually lost his job after calling it one. The second thing that happened was Sarah Palin. Soon after she arrived on the scene, we learned that her teenaged daughter was pregnant. Between these two events, there were lots of headlines. How could I not think about this subject? Here we had Gloucester, a working class town. And Sarah Palin, head of a not-so-working-class family. And celebrities like Jamie Lynn Spears. And so Not My Daughter was born. I conceived of a pregnancy pact involving a small number of girls – four actually in on the plan – and they were good girls from good families, good students who were headed for college. They were the last girls you would imagine doing this. But they had their reasons, each a little different from the other, and once done, it was done. And so you see where this novel begins. I hope you will read it to find out where it ends!Book Club Recommendations
Recommended to book clubs by 2 of 2 members.
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