Mine

Our Review

Mine would be an uncomfortable read at any time but reading it at seven months pregnant was perhaps not the best idea. Susi Fox has created a tense thriller which may be a little much for some readers.

The main character Saskia is a pathologist and there are some rather graphic descriptions of her working on dead babies. There is also a lot of description of miscarriages and fertility problems which may be too sensitive a subject for some readers.

The prologue in itself was very disturbing to read.

“I thought I would love being a mother.

I was wrong.

I don’t enjoy it at all, not even for one moment.

I know I’m bad at it. My life as I know it ended the day I gave birth…

I will fix what I have done. I will make everything ok again for you and for me.

And, please, I beg you: forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

Saski wakes up alone after giving birth. There is no sign of her baby or her husband and the staff are unhelpful at best.

Saskia is already unsettled because she had chosen to give birth in a private hospital called The Royal but had ended up in this hospital because she had given birth at just 35 weeks pregnant.

“This-this is the hospital down the road, the one with the reputation.”

As a pathologist she knows the things that have gone and wrong and could have gone wrong in this hospital, so she is nervous at there being no sign of her baby.

“I know more than anyone how much can go wrong.

A wave of nausea sweeps over me. That hasn’t happened to my baby. Not after everything. It’s not possible. It can’t be.”

When she does manage to get seen by a member of staff that staff member is almost dismissive of her and certainly not what you would want in that situation.

Saskia is surprised to find has had a boy when the ultrasound appeared to show she was having a girl. She wants to see him as soon as possible. The midwife, Ursula, is unhelpful.

“It looks like he’s alright. The files are so difficult these days. So many babies. And so many mothers to care for.”

Eventually Saskia gets to see her baby but when she sees him she is struck by the feeling that he is not hers.

“There’s no stirring in my chest, no tightening of my heart. He doesn’t look like the baby who appeared in my pregnancy dreams. I stare at him as I would any other premature newborn. I don’t feel like this mother at all.”

During her stay at the hospital Saskia becomes more and more convinced that the baby she has been presented with isn’t hers. The staff say otherwise and her husband and father both feel that she is suffering from some kind of postnatal disorder. Saskia knows the baby can’t be hers though and she sets out to search for her real baby.

Whilst reading Mine the reader will be unsure for much of the time if Saskia is right or if she is simply suffering from psychological problems as the other characters in the book believe.

I found myself reading this book quite quickly because I wanted to know what happened but there were times during the middle where I felt like I just wanted it to end as I was a bit bored of it all. However, it was readable and not a book I would tell people to avoid.

Our Final Rating...

Thu, 8th March 2018