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Ignoring Gravity (Rose Haldane, Identity Detective Book 1) by Sandra Danby
Synopsis
Rose Haldane is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the same as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it.
'Ignoring Gravity' connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feels so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…
Excerpt
Rose Haldane is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the same as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it.
Ignoring Gravity connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feels so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…
In this scene, Rose meets with social worker Mrs Greenaway, to receive the official records of her adoption in 1968.
‘…I know I’m older than average for making this sort of discovery. I don’t blame myself for whatever it was that made my birth parents give me away, they had their reasons. I just want to understand. I’m not seeking to blame them for inadequacies in my own life.’
She glanced out of the window. The view was a red brick wall, the glass speckled with raindrops. She could feel Mrs Greenaway’s eyes focussed on her left ear.
‘I have had a fantasy since I was a child that I had a friend, a friend who was fun to play with, a friend who understood me.’ She swallowed. ‘Since I found out I was adopted, I’ve wondered if she might be my lost sister, if she was some residual memory from when I was a baby, that I have a real elder sister.’ Wanda’s face swam into focus.
‘But the sister you grew up with, err…’ Mrs Greenaway looked down at the file again.
‘Lily.’
‘Yes, Lily. She is still your sister. You grew up together, you share a common history. No one can take that away from you.’
Rose looked Mrs Greenaway straight in the eye. ‘No, they can’t. But I’m tired of wondering. I want to know if I have a lost sister or not, so can we just get on with it?’
‘Sometimes the birth mother may be dead or…’
‘Or a criminal, or worse. Yes, I know. I have thought about these things.’ And I’m trying to be positive, Rose reprimanded herself. My mother could be a businesswoman, an actress, an opera singer, an author. A journalist, like me.
Mrs Greenaway straightened her shoulders as if she had made a decision.
Rose leant forwards. Is this it?
‘You have a legal right to the following information.’ Mrs Greenaway’s voice sounded as if she were quoting from an official handbook. ‘Here is Form CA5.’ She pushed a sheet of paper across the desk towards Rose, text side down. ‘It gives you the information on your original birth certificate: your name at birth, the names of your birth parents, and the district of your birth. I’ll give yo
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By Simon Denman, Author and Founder of Readers in the KnowSynopsis
Rose Haldane is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the same as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it.
'Ignoring Gravity' connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feels so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…
Excerpt
Rose Haldane is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the same as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it.
Ignoring Gravity connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feels so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…
In this scene, Rose meets with social worker Mrs Greenaway, to receive the official records of her adoption in 1968.
‘…I know I’m older than average for making this sort of discovery. I don’t blame myself for whatever it was that made my birth parents give me away, they had their reasons. I just want to understand. I’m not seeking to blame them for inadequacies in my own life.’
She glanced out of the window. The view was a red brick wall, the glass speckled with raindrops. She could feel Mrs Greenaway’s eyes focussed on her left ear.
‘I have had a fantasy since I was a child that I had a friend, a friend who was fun to play with, a friend who understood me.’ She swallowed. ‘Since I found out I was adopted, I’ve wondered if she might be my lost sister, if she was some residual memory from when I was a baby, that I have a real elder sister.’ Wanda’s face swam into focus.
‘But the sister you grew up with, err…’ Mrs Greenaway looked down at the file again.
‘Lily.’
‘Yes, Lily. She is still your sister. You grew up together, you share a common history. No one can take that away from you.’
Rose looked Mrs Greenaway straight in the eye. ‘No, they can’t. But I’m tired of wondering. I want to know if I have a lost sister or not, so can we just get on with it?’
‘Sometimes the birth mother may be dead or…’
‘Or a criminal, or worse. Yes, I know. I have thought about these things.’ And I’m trying to be positive, Rose reprimanded herself. My mother could be a businesswoman, an actress, an opera singer, an author. A journalist, like me.
Mrs Greenaway straightened her shoulders as if she had made a decision.
Rose leant forwards. Is this it?
‘You have a legal right to the following information.’ Mrs Greenaway’s voice sounded as if she were quoting from an official handbook. ‘Here is Form CA5.’ She pushed a sheet of paper across the desk towards Rose, text side down. ‘It gives you the information on your original birth certificate: your name at birth, the names of your birth parents, and the district of your birth. I’ll give yo