The Stolen Child

 

The Stolen Child by Ann Hood

Fiction

2024

Finished on February 10, 2025

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands—and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal, and the lives they’ve left behind.

With characteristic warmth and verve, Ann Hood captures a world of possibility and romance through the eyes of a young woman learning to claim her place in it. The Stolen Child is an engaging, timeless novel of secrets, love lost and found, and the nature of forgiveness.

Having read several books (both fiction and nonfiction) by Ann Hood, I was happy to see a copy of her most recent publication on the new release shelf at my public library. The cover art is lovely, the historical references to World War I intriguing, and the setting (both in France and Italy) enticing, so I didn't hesitate to bring it home with me. I wish I could say that this is a great novel, but it lacked the depth and literary quality that I was hoping for. I struggled with the three nonlinear timelines (which at times were abrupt, pulling me out of the story), and grew impatient with the drawn-out search by Jenny and Nick. The rich details of both France and Italy kept me from giving up on the novel, but I'm guilty of looking ahead to see how many pages remained before I could start something new. 

I loved Hood's Morningstar: Growing Up with Books (memoir), as well as Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food (another memoir). The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle are two of her novels that I also enjoyed a lot. The Stolen Child isn't one I need to own or will read again, but for those who are looking for a lighter read during these stressful times, this book may be just the ticket.