About the Book
A genealogy search reveals heartrending connections between friends as it brings to light one woman’s traumatic past as a teenage mother in the 1960s.
In a quiet North Carolina town in 1968, a seventeen-year-old girl’s life is forever changed when a summer romance leads to an unplanned pregnancy. She is sent to an abusive “maternity home,” where she is shamed and deceived into signing adoption papers.
In the present day, Allison Garrett volunteers as a “search angel,” using DNA tests to help strangers locate lost relatives. But the family tree she finds most compelling is that of her own mother, who was abandoned as a baby. As Allison puts the pieces together, they reveal much more than her mother’s origins—and threaten to create further divisions in her tight-knit community.
When a family is separated by devastating circumstances, is it possible for them to heal the pain of the past and make up for lost time?
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Audiobook
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Narrator: Austenne Grey
Format: Unabridged
Runtime: 10 hours
Reviews
“Told with heartfelt compassion from the poignant beginning to a wonderfully uplifting ending, Once You Were Mine is an insightful story of family and the courage it takes to embrace the tenuous nature of expectations when belief is challenged.”
Shelley Noble, New York Times bestselling author of The Colony Club
“Quietly powerful and tenderly written, Once You Were Mine reveals the messy painful aftermath of long ago choices and buried family secrets. Langston offers hope without being sappy and leaves readers believing that it’s never too late for a second chance.”
Alix Rickloff, author of The Last Light Over Oslo
“ONCE YOU WERE MINE is an intimate portrait of a young girl facing the stigma and pain of a teen pregnancy during the early 1970s and the repercussions of choices made for her by those charged with loving and protecting her.
Elizabeth Langston has masterfully constructed a tale that follows Molly’s journey as an unwed mother in the seventies to the present where technological advances bring information that shakes the foundation of two families and the bonds of long-term best friends. The story takes us on an emotional ride as one generation seeks to bury and mask cracks in propriety while the next generation searches for answers and connection.
ONCE YOU WERE MINE traverses a timeline that illustrates the challenges women faced during the patriarchal culture of the seventies, and as they sought to secure equitable footing at home and as contributors to the workforce. An extremely worthwhile read.”
Monica Chenault-Kilgore, author of The Jewel of the Blues
Elizabeth Langson’s new novel, Once You Were Mine is a poignant story of how DNA tests can force families to navigate a new present, and come to terms with a difficult past. The novel will keep readers engaged until the end to discover how family secrets can touch and change lives.
Georgie Blalock, author of The Windsor Conspiracy
The Details
Published: February 11, 2025
Publisher: Lake Union
Formats: EbookPaperbackAudiobook
ISBN-10: 1662521146ISBN-13: 978-1662521140ASIN: B0D3J73YX3
Genres & Tropes
Historical Fiction, Dual Timeline, Family Drama, Genealogy, Forced adoption, Sixties
