After many miscarriages and IVF, Joanne, 46, finally seems to have a pregnancy going to full-term. She and husband Alex are ecstatic. Joanne never knew her mother Grave who died 1975 while giving birth to her. Her father Mike remarried and his wife Lou has been like a mother to Joanne. 

One day Joanne finds a baby album that disputes her father's version of events - her mother is alive in some of the photos with her. A death certificate duly ordered states that Grace died in 1977 in a mental hospital, which is two year after Joanne's birth.

When questioned, Mike and Lou totally clam up, hide in their house or outright lie to Joanne. It falls to heavily pregnant Joanne to investigate what really happened and find out why no one wants to tell her the truth. Her husband isn't much help, just constantly tells her she needs to rest. Let me tell you something, guys, if a pregnant woman wants to do something, you better let her!

I found this story infuriating. In a dual POV and timeline we get Grace's side of the story - a postpartum psychosis that in the 70s wasn't as understood and treated as it is now, landing her in a mental asylum. That is bad enough, but her family's embarrassed reaction towards Joanne is almost worse - her father in particular could have spared her a lot of anguish and stress simply by being truthful, especially as it could have repercussions for Joanne's own pregnancy. 

I understand wanting to tell a story about mental health and how much of a stigma it still is, but none of the actions felt normal, like parents hiding in their house just to avoid talking to their daughter, and at the other end, a government official showing Joanne official documents she wasn't permitted to show. And where was Grace's family in all this? It's not logical that they never knew anything and are as baffled as Joanne - did they never try to find her in the 70s?

This is an important story bogged down by too many illogical happenings, but I enjoyed Grace's POV. The men in the story were annoying but it was interesting to see how convincing false memories can be.