You Were Always Mine

The acclaimed authors of "We Are Not Like Them” return with this moving and provocative novel about a Black woman who finds an abandoned white baby, sending her on a collision course with her past, her family, and a birth mother who doesn't want to be found.

Cinnamon Haynes is a dedicated wife, a loyal friend, and a beloved mentor to the students she advises at the local community college, but no one would suspect her adult life has been built on a bedrock of lies.

She always painted an idyllic image of her childhood, but in fact, her mother ran off when Cinnamon was a toddler, the grandmother who took her in died shortly thereafter leaving her to fend for herself in a string of foster homes, and there was that terrible stint at her Aunt Celia's including the unforgivable betrayal in the dark days that followed. And somehow, she has managed to build a respectable life for herself, but on the eve of her fortieth birthday, she finds herself wrestling with one question: "Is this truly all there is?"

But Cinnamon's not the only one with secrets...

Daisy Dunlap has been hiding a big one, she's pregnant. Reeling and out of options, she concludes that there's only one person she can trust with her baby: her career counselor, Cinnamon Haynes. The lives of these two women collide when Daisy makes a desperate decision. Cinnamon is eating her usual lunch on her usual bench in the park when she hears an unmistakable sound coming from the trees behind her: a soft mewling. Nestled in the bushes is a baby carrier and inside is a newborn infant with bright blue eyes and corn silk blond hair.

Once again, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza brings their riveting prose to an unforgettable novel propelled by a provocative question-what are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of marriage, friendship, motherhood, and our dreams?