This Child Is Mine: A Novel

by Henry Denker

A timely, moving novel traces a couple's courtroom struggle to get back the son they gave up for adoption and explores the impact of laws favoring the claims of biological parents on their children. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

330 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teenage girl gives her baby up for adoption as she doesn't want her boyfriend to give up his acting dreams and get a proper job. Years later, the boyfriend is a major soap opera star, they meet, they marry and they want their baby back. Will reuniting a natural family win out over a child's love for his adoptive mother? The characters were badly-drawn, the plot was clichéd and the court scenes more schlocky than anything on Court TV. But you have to read to the end of the book, just in case Denker pulls a Jodi Picoult surprise ending. Am I going to tell you if he does? No. Do I recommend you read this book? No, just fuggedabout it and see what's on the tv.

[Dr.J.G.]

Times have gone ahead of this, and now people give birth to what is after all a child of totally another couple, or at least some variation thereof. And while no one can question the benefit of a good environment, denying ties of blood is unrealistic to say the least. After all a mutual recognition that is immediate in one or both when seeing and hearing those that are related has to do with more than environment, and people inherit a great deal that does not change with adoption or living elsewhere.

It is interesting to recall the documentary on one information channel, Discovery or National Geographic or some such one, where they showed a spinner dolphin brought up since babyhood amongst bottle nosed dolphins in nature with no human intervention - and while other dolphins around this one jumped clear, this one spinned, never having been taught to do so by example in surroundings.

Again, this is not to deny the role adoptive relatives play - and after all, every friend, every love, every marriage is an adoption outside law or within, until there are bonds of blood created by children related to both - but law, bringing up, and love do not wipe out bloodlines and the characteristics inherited thereby.

Children are not property, and love ought to be shared by all without animosity of competition or exclusion of a part by another.

[Ram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry Denker’s This Child Is Mine is a searing legal and psychological novel that probes the fault lines of adoption, maternal remorse, and the treacherous moral terrain of parental rights. More at

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2026...

[Ginny Thurston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble getting through this book...too painful and ambiguous...it does keep you in suspense until the very end...but some of the twists do not ring true...

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You really think it will end one way and then (happily) it ends another. Excellent book.

[Dru · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book ended just the way I wanted it to. A good book.

[Michelle Mazwi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many feelings in this one...

[Arwen56 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Il romanzo in sé è davvero ben poca cosa. Scrittura mediocre e trama raffazzonata. Però rammento che una sera di tanti anni fa, era stato di stimolo per avviare una conversazione tra amici, che ha finito per prendere altre strade e altre prospettive, suscitando interventi anche accesi.

Per cui, non mi dispiace averlo letto, perchè uno scopo l’ha pure avuto.

:-)

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This legal battle over a child could be something you could see on the news right now, or similar. Interpreting laws and ruling are a judge's duty, but at times can seem so hard to do well. This novel does a good job of humanizing all the characters in the story and seeing how all their plights are, in their minds, valid.
This was an RD condensed book.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Child is Mine, Henry Denker, RDC-M, #2-95, 1/13. Who should be awarded custody of a young boy, the young couple who adopted him when he was 3 days old, or the young unmarried mother who surrendered him at birth? Good.

[Blaine Morrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wooden characters and dialog, but might be a good read for someone caught up in or contemplating adoption.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good book to read and has its sad parts but happy ones to

[Jennifer Morefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an interesting take on adoptive parents vs. biological parents. A worthy read... Enjoyed it.