The Stolen Baby

The story of one baby boy, forgotten by his family after an air raid in WW2 Plymouth, who then disappears. Based on a true story.

“I am a changeling–a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. . . .”The double story of Henry Day begins in 1949, when he is kidnapped at age seven by a band of wild childlike beings who live in an ancient, secret community in the forest. The changelings rename their captive Aniday and he becomes, like them, unaging and stuck in time. They leave one of their own to take his place, an imposter who must try–with varying success–to hide his true identity from the Day family. As the changeling Henry grows up, he is haunted by glimpses of his lost double and by vague memories of his own childhood a century earlier. Narrated in turns by Henry and Aniday, The Stolen Child follows them as their lives converge, driven by their obsessive search for who they were before they changed places in the world. Moving from a realistic setting in small-town America deep into the forest of humankind’s most basic desires and fears, this remarkable novel is a haunting fable about identity and the illusory innocence of childhood.

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a baby and couldn't. They turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth. They named her Evie. Seven years later, the family has moved to Yorkshire and grown in number: a wonderful surprise in the form of baby Ben. As a working mum it's not easy for Zoe, but life is good. But then Evie begins to receive letters and gifts. The sender claims to be her birth father. He has been looking for his daughter. And now he is coming to take her back...

Stolen from her family by the Nazis, Nadia is a young girl who tries to make sense of her confusing memories and haunting dreams. Bit by bit she starts to uncover the truth—that the German family she grew up with, the woman who calls herself Nadia's mother, are not who they say they are. Beyond her privileged German childhood, Nadia unearths memories of a woman singing her a lullaby, while the taste of gingersnap cookies brings her back to a strangely familiar, yet unknown, past. Piece by piece, Nadia comes to realize who her real family was. But where are they now? What became of them? And what is her real name? This story of a Lebensborn girl—a child kidnapped for her "Aryan looks" by the Nazis in their frenzy to build a master race—reveals one child's fierce determination to uncover her past against incredible odds.

St Brigid's is a remote island off the west coast of Ireland. It is a barren place and its small community is dwindling. But according to rumour it is a magical place, home to a healing well. Two sisters, Rose and Emer, have resisted the call of the mainland. Rose is beautiful, blessed with love and many children. Emer is unlovely and, worse still, she is cursed by the strange currents that run through her fingers. When a dazzling stranger alights on St Brigid's, she is shunned. She has come in search of a miracle, and the islanders keep their secrets close. But gradually she insinuates her way into the sisters' lives, and even Emer opens her heart. Little do they realise that her quest will endanger the lives of all who remain on the island. Passion will endanger everything they hold dear.

For almost three decades, renowned baby-seller Georgia Tann ran a children's home in Memphis, Tennessee — selling her charges to wealthy clients nationwide, Joan Crawford among them. Part social history, part detective story, part expose, The Baby Thief is a riveting investigative narrative that explores themes that continue to reverberate today.

An instant New York Times and Globe and Mail bestseller. Look out for Shari Lapena's next thriller, A Stranger in the House, coming August 2017. "Meticulously crafted and razor-sharp. The Couple Next Door lingers long after you turn the final page." —Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fool Me Once A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal and the secrets between husbands and wives. . . . How well do you know the couple next door? Or your husband? Or even—yourself? Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story. Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of deception, duplicityand unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

This is the inspiring and “page-turning” (Booklist) true story of Paul Fronczak, a man who recently discovered that he had been kidnapped as a baby—and how his quest to find out who he really is upturned the genealogy industry, his own family, and set in motion the second longest cold-case in US history. In 1964, a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital. Two years later, police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant’s mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next fifty years believing they were whole again—but Paul was always unsure about his true identity. Then, four years ago—spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith—Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed that he was definitely not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he’s been living—and to discover who abandoned him, and why. Poignant and inspiring, The Foundling is a story about a child lost and a faith found, about the permanence of families and the bloodlines that define you, and about the emotional toll of both losing your identity and rediscovering who you truly are.

Fourteen-year-old Amy's excitement over her first babysitting job ends when she and her three-year-old charge are kidnapped, but a daily videorecording sent to little Kendra's parents allows Amy to send clues, in hopes of being rescued before the kidnappers decide they no longer need her.

This book explores the experiences of Aboriginal mothers of Stolen Generations children, providing new insights into our understanding of this era. It reflects critically on human rights processes based on truth-telling, raising important issues about who gets to speak at such processes and whose voices are heard and validated.

A raw and powerful memoir of Jaycee Lee Dugard's own story of being kidnapped as an 11-year-old and held captive for over 18 years On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, utterly honest and unflinching narrative, Jaycee opens up about what she experienced, including how she feels now, a year after being found. Garrido and his wife Nancy have since pleaded guilty to their crimes.

Devy Bruch, adopted in the late 1930s from the infamous Tennessee Children's Home Society, has lived a life of both privilege and despair. She searched for her biological family for the first seven decades of her life. In 1937, as an infant, she was stolen from her mother by the infamous Georgia Tann, bundled up, and sold to a wealthy couple from Pennsylvania. In her youth, Devy attended exclusive private schools, spent weekends at the Naval Academy, and experienced a debutante season befitting a fine upbringing. Then, as a young woman, she was plunged into deep despair when her husband left her with four young children and no income. She survived through her inner strength, determination, and spirituality. At the age of seventy-one, Devy made the decision to investigate her adoption and found that she had a sister that destiny had denied her for decades. She learned of the heinous truth of her origins that of a small, sickly baby stolen from her birth mother and sold for profit during the depression. Now life has brought her full circle to enjoy both her own family and the birth family she finally discovered late in life.

Simply told but deeply affecting, in the bestselling tradition of Alice McDermott and Tom Perrotta, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore—and gets away with it for twenty-one years. Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends. When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood. Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.

Stolen Babies of Spain chronicles how and why baby stealing began in Spain just after the civil war of 1936-1939. This heartbreaking and tragic history of the worst, modern-day network of stolen babies pulls back a web of deceit and terror, uncovering pain, suffering, and, worse, organization and profit.Using more than three hundred interviews conducted by the authors, many of them exclusive, Greg Rabidoux and Mara Lencina reveal the personal stories of the adults who were stolen babies as they search for their biological parents and their true origins. The authors also shine a spotlight on the surviving parents who still to this day search for their babies that were stolen and sent away for illegal adoptions.In Stolen Babies of Spain: The Book, the authors also expose the role of the Catholic Church, General Francisco Franco and the Spanish government, and medical doctors and nurses such as the infamous Dr Eduardo Vela, in operating in a criminal network for decades that stole babies and sold them for profit, both in Spain and worldwide. Rabidoux, Lencina, and Vila take an in-depth look at the ongoing stealing and trafficking of babies and children worldwide and what, if anything, is being done to combat these basic, human rights violations and crimes. Fortunately, the work Rabidoux and Lencina did in finding families and those who had been stolen, to interview, also revealed heart-warming stories of the rare yet wonderful moments when stolen babies and their family are reunited. In conjunction with the award-winning documentary Stolen Babies of Spain, also from Rabidoux and Lencina, this fascinating and tragic hidden history is now, finally, revealed.

Meet DCI Hanlon. A woman with a habit of breaking the rules and a fierce loyalty to the few people she respects. When the kidnap of a 12-year-old boy blows the case of some missing children wide apart, the finger is pointing at the heart of the Met. Hanlon is sent in as the only cop who is incorruptible enough to handle it. But can she find the killer before another child is stolen? Once you start the DCI Hanlon series, you won't be able to put it down. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Lisa Regan and Mark Dawson. This book was previously published as Time To Die by Alex Howard. What readers are saying about The Stolen Child: 'Brilliantly done, authentic and doesn't pull any punches' 'The story twists and turns its way to an edge of the seat conclusion' 'Difficult to put down' 'Brilliant and well written' 'A great new character and a gripping story' 'I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the turns of the plot.' 'A great female lead, in a story that is as much about character as it is about the crime.'