The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

'Part investigative journalism, part emotional excavation, this breathtaking and heartbreaking book tells the story of a daughter's need to understand her difficult mother. Both moving and artful, rewarding its readers page after page' Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret and Me

'The gripping true story of a daughter's quest to find the truth about her mother's origins. As she uncovers an increasingly dramatic tale of abuse, escape and recovery, Justine Cowan must grapple with her complex feelings about this woman who, as she comes to learn, never had a real childhood of her own. A riveting, heartbreaking and ultimately healing journey of discovery' Christina Baker Kline, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train

Critics Review

  • Page-turning and profoundly moving. Her meticulous research has uncovered a strand of British history and she brings it sharply and vividly to life through her personal quest.

    Virginia Nicholson
  • Part-memoir, part-detective story, The Secret Life Of Dorothy Soames will break your heart then piece it back together again … Simultaneously exploring her mother’s story of escape and the history of the Foundling Hospital, this is an unforgettable read

    Stylist
  • An extraordinary memoir . . . Although telling a deeply personal story, Cowan painstakingly gathers her material as if assembling testimony for a day in court. She is also admirably honest about her fraught relationship with her mother . . . The result is this fascinating, moving book; part history of the Foundling Hospital and the development of child psychology, part Cowan’s own story, and part that of Dorothy Soames (the name Cowan’s mother was given at the hospital)

    Daily Telegraph
  • The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames is the gripping true story of a daughter’s quest to find the truth about her mother’s origins-and, in the process, come to terms with her own life and choices. As she uncovers an increasingly dramatic tale of abuse, escape, and recovery, Justine Cowan must grapple with her complex feelings about this woman who, as she comes to learn, never had a real childhood of her own. A riveting, heartbreaking, and ultimately healing journey of discovery

    Christina Baker Kline, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train
  • Part investigative journalism, part emotional excavation, this breathtaking and heartbreaking book tells the story of a daughter’s need to understand her difficult mother. An unexpected and original addition to the mother/daughter memoir oeuvre, The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames is both moving and artful, rewarding its readers page after page

    Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret and Me
  • Cowan debuts with an impressive memoir about the unearthing of her deceased mother’s secret past and a generations-long cycle of family trauma. This frank account of a real-life Dickensian dystopia captivates at every turn

    Publishers Weekly

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.