Sins of the Mother by Tara Hyland

A very dramatic book, (spanning the 50s and 60s mostly) something you immerse yourself in not to learn anything or walk away enlightened, but to just get lost in a very long soap opera, centered around a very selfish, vain woman: the mother.


Franny wants to leave the farm in Ireland more than anything. She wants to be somebody, not be like her mother. But a tumble in the hay gets her in the family way and life just goes...not the way she wanted it to. When she gets a shot at Hollywood, she leaves her daughter behind, in the hands of her elderly mother. Cara lives a secret and shameful existence. Nobody can know about her. Her mother pretty much forgets about her, marries, is happy for a while, but there's a thing called karma, and to make a long story short, I'm going to say that Franny got what was coming to her. I personally felt, even in light of the ending, when her entire story was revealed, what she'd done was selfish and inexcusable.

Like I said, karma.

For 3/4 of the book I was wondering just how much pain and trauma one little girl could face. It was one of those novels where it was as though the author thought up every bad thing she could to happen to the heroine, Cara.

Abandonment, molestation, cruel nuns, men bringing women down, you name it, the women faced it. Scandal, secret pregnancies...

It may sound as though I didn't like it, but truth is, I did. I found myself riveted like one driving past the scene of a bad car accident. I like an occasional soap opera as good as the next person.

And if that's what you're in the mood for, pick this one up. It's very well-written and engaging with something shocking at every turn of the page. You won't be bored even though the book is very long. There will be parts, however, you'll just want to skip to the end cause you are dying to know and can't wait any gosh darned longer!

Four bikes. I scored this via Goodreads swap before they did away with the program.