My new novel, The Second Time We Met, is the story of a young Colombian girl who, pregnant at 16 years old, gives her baby boy up for adoption. Over two decades later, her son, happily adopted by an American family, travels to Colombia in search of his birth mother.
While it is ostensibly a story about adoption, it is–at its core–a story about second chances, reinvention and the choices that come with that.
Rita Ortiz, our young heroine, had grand ambitions; ambitions that went beyond the confines of her small town and loveless home. Those ambitions were derailed by an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy that threw her life into turmoil. Rita had little choice but to give her son up. But then, she got a chance at a new start, and she took it.
Her son, Sebastian, also got a chance at a new start when his mother gave him up and he was adopted and given a new name—Asher—and with it, a new identity.
But when Asher, all grown up, also sees his life thrown into turmoil, he's forced to start again one more time.
I've always been fascinated by the notion of rebirth, of second chances, second careers, second lives. I love stories of people who defy their circumstances and provenance and go on to do marvelous things that seem almost miraculous considering their origins. I'm enthralled by those who give everything up–family, careers, money, homes–to follow a new dream or start a new path.
And then, there's the ultimate step: The person who changes their identity completely, who obliterates all vestiges of their past.
Rita Ortiz did just that. And she was perfectly happy, at last, until her son came looking for her.
What would you do if you were in Rita's shoes? Would you accept this child–now a grown-up stranger—back into your life? Or would you protect your hard-won and closely cherished new life?
Image via Amazon.com
