I honestly thought I was reading a true story, they definitely didn't lie in the description.i really enjoyed this book. I definitely felt connected with the characters and felt I got to know them

**Many thanks to Publerati and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this powerful novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.**

Rating: 4.5⭐

“Our lives are Russian dolls, identities inside identities.”

In 2013, forty-five year old Australian writer Nella Gilbert Pine is teaching refugees how to speak and write English hoping to enable them to <i>“reclaim the voice they often lose when they leave their native language behind, in the choices they make to save their lives and the lives of their families.”</i> Recent events in her own life inspire her to pen her thoughts and share her story .

A few years ago Nella had discovered, from a letter left for her by her late mother Eve, that the woman she had known as her mother all her life had not been her biological mother. Neither is her real name “Nella” nor is “Eve” her “mother’s” real name. Eve aka Ruth Miller was a nurse who kidnapped three-day-old baby, Naomi Gordon, from the obstetrics ward of a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1978. Following the kidnapping, she changed her identity and relocated to Australia, building a new life for herself and Naomi under new names with fictitious backstories. Needless to say, this revelation shatters Nella/Naomi’s reality leaving her “hardened and numbed”.

“Can you piece together a shattered glass? Zen masters teach: This glass is already broken. Our lives are already broken, birth a shower of shards beyond the gestures of ordinary repair. Give up the glue of habit; it won’t hold. To be wholly broken: that’s Eve’s bequest to me.”

In her letter, Eve/Ruth claims she was “compelled” to do what she did providing details of Nella’s biological parents and the truth about her family history dating back to WWII-era Europe. Nella agonizes over Eve’s actions unable to comprehend what could have driven Eve/Ruth to commit such a heinous crime. As the narrative progresses, we get to know more about Eve’s past life and how she built a life for herself and Nella in Australia and Nella’s true parentage and background. Nella attempts to establish contact with her biological family and find out as much as possible about the secrets that have been kept from her.

“Or has she stolen from me a second past—the one I lived with her erased along with the one I would have lived with the Gordons?”

The novel examines the devastating effect of the kidnapping of a newborn baby on all those whose lives are irrevocably changed by the incident- the victim, the perpetrator, and the family of the child. The author also introduces subplots focusing on forced adoptions of unwed mothers, discrimination, and the search for one’s true identity. The major part of the narrative is shared between Nella /Naomi with segments from the letter left by her “mother” Eve/Ruth. We also get to know how Nella’s kidnapping impacted the lives of her biological sister Leah, and her mother each of whom shares their experiences of both the aftermath of Nella/Naomi’s kidnapping and the effect her reaching out to them after almost fifty years has had. The novel touches on the themes of love, loss, intergenerational trauma, family and identity with the utmost compassion.

Though this is a relatively short novel, it is not an easy read. It is impossible to read this novel and not be affected. Beautifully written, evocative, well-paced and immersive, Mother Tongue by Joyce Kornblatt is the kind of story that stays with you.

“I have decided that all coincidences are compasses, mirrors, maps, treasure hunt clues. Who can say how we find our way home, before we even know we are lost?”

Growing up as someone else, Nella’s mother is dying and she tell’s her the truth about her birth…that she had been stolen and her real name is not Nella. But why did Ruth abduct baby Naomi and go to Australia? What would life have been like if Nella had been raised in the US as Naomi by her family?

So many questions and so many emotions run through this book. It is so well written and felt more like poetry at times, but it always was well done. This one will keep plucking at your heart strings and leave you feeling like you read one of the best books you’ve read in awhile…because you have just read one of the best books you’ve read in awhile.

It saddens me that I'm giving this book a low rating. Throughout my reading experience with this book, the only thing that I can commend was the writing style. It was very poetic and lyrical. I often consult the dictionary to look up words foreign to my vocabulary and I also enjoyed that experience as well. Unfortunately, some aspects did not really resonate with me. Although the plot excites me in the beginning, it became a slow read for me and I didn't know where the story was going. I understand that it is not the strength of the novel but I just can't help but compare it to other stories with a similar style that also pulled it off with the plot. Despite the pov's the characters being in the first person, I did not get to connect with them that much though Leah's chapter stood out for me and I thought there is more that can be explored in her story arc. The ending didn't give me anything to feast on, it felt lacking and it did not satisfy me at all. I'd still say that this a great book to read but not just my cup of tea.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me read and review the book.

from start to finish this felt reminiscent of a rollercoaster ride. it details the story of nella pine - a woman who discovers she was snatched from her birth parents as a newborn in america and raised in australia by her kidnapper, her mother.

the beauty of the words on each page rendered me speechless. poetic almost. the story, albeit a fascinating one, was told in a way in which it is hard for you to not finish it consumed with thoughts about the who, what, why, where, when, and how of our identities. this one will stay with me for a while.

and thank you to netgalley for the arc.

A beautifully written and emotive book that will be with me for a while. I didn't expect it to be as emotive as it was. A great read.

"Our lives are Russian dolls, identities inside identities."

"I am the crime and the narrator-sleuth...When I was three days old, a nurse named Ruth Miller stole me from the obstetrics ward in Mercy Hospital and raised me as her own. This was May 7, 1968 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." The crime was planned, months in the making. "[A] dream commanded [Ruth] to choose an infant in her charge and create a life with it as if the bond between them were the natural one of birth" "A baby shoplifted" With a passport bearing a new identity [Eve Gilbert] and a false birth certificate, the kidnapped child and her abductor vanished in plain sight re-immerging in Australia.

In September 2013, forty-five year old Nella Gilbert was teaching refugees to speak and write English. "I hope I help them reclaim the voice they often lose when they leave their native language behind." Now Nella, inspired by her students, would express herself through the written word to try to piece together her lost life. "It was impending death that woke [Eve Gilbert] to her life at last, the horror of her act finally clear to her, the wish to make things right." "To be wholly broken: That's Eve's bequest to me. Broken wholly."

Why did Eve "feel compelled" to kidnap Nella, born Naomi? Did she just flip a coin? "I have been so starved for explanations...If there is rescuing to be done, then I am the search party and the one who will be found. The compass aims inward." Imagine the sheer horror, the terror experienced by Naomi's birth parents Paul and Deborah Gordon, upon finding their newborn's empty hospital bassinet. Using writing as a catharsis, Naomi Gordon would be birthed a second time.

"Mother Tongue" by Joyce Kornblatt is a compassionately written narrative evoking the experiences of a multitude of lost children through forced adoption, those lost to the Holocaust, and Australia's Stolen Generation, describing loss, grief and stolen identity. This short, insightful novel highlights the trajectory of Nella's life which turned on a dime, a life so different from one being raised by her biological parents. This "robbery" left a shattered family who never stopped waiting, hoping and praying. However, even Nella/Naomi would have to admit "it would be easy to efface all that nourished me, to pretend I wasn't happy and secure...she was my mother and I was her daughter...there is no way to undo love...I carry in my body the wound of my abduction and the salve to the wound." "It is fruitless to yearn for a single-stranded clarity in a world of braided truths, each thread wrapped around its opposite." An exceptional read. Highly recommended.

Thank you Publerati and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found parts of this book quite moving, the stories of the lost children particularly.
But also the relationship between Nella and her mother.
It's told beautifully, and I could not put it down.
I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while