Eden's Daughter

Living in the vast beauty of the Saskatchewan prairie, fourteen-year-old Eden English finds herself pregnant and unwilling to name the father. Her parents send her to a maternity home in the city where she is forced to give up her newborn daughter for adoption. Years later, Eden is trapped in an unhappy life marked by poverty, addiction, and haunting visions of a child she feels certain is in danger. When a chance encounter sparks new hope, she is determined to rescue the little girl who was stolen from her. Eden's dramatic search for her daughter-and the unexpected friendship and love she finds along the way-is set in the 1970s, when women's roles and rural communities in Canada were slowly but inexorably changing with the times. Editorial Review by Nancy M. Bell Eden's Daughter by Katherine Maitko 5 Stars Teenage southern Saskatchewan farm girl, Eden finds herself pregnant and fighting to keep her unborn child. It's the 1970's and unwed mothers are not looked upon with any favour in the small farming community. Eden's parents insist she have an abortion, but Eden is convinced her unborn child is a daughter and there is no way she is going to terminate this pregnancy. She bolts from the hospital and hides on the streets of Regina before returning to her family the next day. Instead Eden finds herself in a home for unwed mothers. She is determined to keep her daughter, but politics and some underhanded dealings conspire to take that choice away. Eden goes on with her life but is plagued with dreams of her daughter living in less than desirable conditions. Her quest to find and reclaim her daughter is wonderfully depicted in Matiko's sensitive and evocative text. A must read.