“You Were Always Mine” by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (Simon & Schuster)
I don't know who introduced writers Christine Pride and Jo Piazza but I'd like to thank their literary matchmaker. Each talented on their own, a special magic happens when they co-author a book together. Their first novel, the 2021 release, “We Are Not Like Them” tackled Black Lives Matter, race relations, police brutality, journalism ethics, forgiveness and friendship between two women, one Black and one white. Written in alternate voices, the book was at times tough to read but it felt important and necessary.
Their new book “You Were Always Mine” also doesn't shy away from hard topics. It follows a Black woman named Cinnamon and a white pregnant woman named Daisy, two strangers who form an unlikely friendship after meeting in a local park. One day Cinnamon returns to the park and finds Daisy has given birth and left her baby with a note, asking Cinnamon to raise the child as her own.
Cinnamon's world is naturally turned upside down by this turn of events, but she is instantly protective of the baby, especially as the world around them reacts to the idea of a Black mother with a white child— including Cinnamon's husband and the baby's biological grandparents.
“You Were Always Mine” addresses motherhood, what defines a “good mother," plus unconscious bias and microaggressions. It also comes at a time when 14 states have banned abortions for almost any reason after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The authors also come at the topic differently in real life — Pride is not a mother by choice, Piazza has three children — which adds realism and representation to their storytelling.
“We Are Not Like Them” and now “You Were Always Mine” are no-brainer choices for book club reads and tee up the possibility for raw and thought-provoking discussions that go deep.
Alicia Rancilio, The Associated Press
