Shadow Baby: A Novel

By Alison McGhee

A young girl forms an unforgettable friendship with an elderly neighbor while searching for answers about her family's past in this national bestseller and Pulitzer Prize nominee.

Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missing father and grandfather and her twin sister, dead at birth, but her mother steadfastly refuses to talk about these people who are lost to her daughter. When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky, a lone old man, for a school biography assignment, she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, the girl invents version upon version of Mr. Kominsky's past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy past.

The journey of discovery that these two oddly matched people embark upon is at the heart of this beautiful story about friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves. McGhee's prose glistens with shrewd truth and wild imaginings, creating a novel that will reverberate in the hearts and minds of readers long after the book is finished.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 22, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307462596

Alison McGhee

Alison McGhee is the New York Times bestselling author of Someday, as well as Dear Sister, What I Leave Behind, Pablo and Birdy, Where We Are, Maybe a Fox with Kathi Appelt, Firefly Hollow, Little Boy, So Many Days, Star Bright, A Very Brave Witch, Dear Brother, and the Bink and Gollie books. Her other children’s books include All Rivers Flow to the Sea, Countdown to Kindergarten, and Snap!. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Laguna Beach, California. You can visit her at AlisonMcGhee.com.

Reviews for Shadow Baby

[rdra1962 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

People either love or hate this book. I loved it. loved the writing, loved all the odd, quirky characters, loved their stories. Even loved the "unreliable narrator" which I usually hate. I interesting to see what "other people who read this book also read..." Quick read!

[rascalstar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was hard to decide about 4 or 5 stars for this book. The story is deftly written from the viewpoint of an 11 and 12-year-old girl. While there is melancholy to it, there is also quiet joy in a new friend and learning new things. The girl likes words and language and invents stories for the people in her life she doesn't know and that her mother won't tell her about, like her grandfather. Her new friend, Georg, an immigrant, is a metal worker and this plucky, unusual child need someone to be with while her mother is a choir practice each week. And Georg gently teaches her a different way of thinking that stays with her for life. It's the story of a clip in time in their lives, where the girl wants to know about her family -- her twin that was lost, the father and grandfather she doesn't know. Her mother won't talk about it. At age 11-12, we all had a little world all our own and so does this child. I love the way the author made this voice so authentic. I understand the book was up for a Pulitzer Prize and the author has won other accolades for her writing.

[jinjer-641812 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First there was Anne with an "e", now there is Clara winter with a lowercase "w". Both are 11-yo girls with big imaginations and a love for words and books.

This book is going on my favorites shelf, but, unfortunately, only virtually since the paperback itself is in pretty bad condition.

[piemouth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

About a young girl's friendship with an elderly neighbor. She's obsessed by reading and stories and is very likable. Nice.

[berylweidenbach · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a lovely and touching story. A single mom with a vague past and her daughter, an imaginative young girl who befriends an old man for a school assignment. Clara proceeds to find out much about his past, embellishing in the gaps. A simple man, he has much to teach her about how he looks at the world, how people survive amidst hardship. The knowledge he gives her, mostly through example, helps her survive her own very difficult time. A reminder of all there is to learn from everyone we meet, to have deep respect for all the difficult secrets in each persons life. The message in this sweet book will stay with me. I would highly recommend it. Sometimes what seem the simplest lessons, the ones we almost overlook in our hurry through life, are the most profound...

[catien_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clara winter (she insists on the small w) is a precocious and curious 11-year-old who befriends an elderly neighbor, Georg Kominsky. Clara has a lot of things she wants details of -- who is her father, where is her grandfather, what were the circumstances of her twin sister's death -- and Georg is a pillar of strength for her as she deals with these huge questions in her life, and he also has secrets of his own. This is a beautifully written book that I shed some tears over. Highly recommended.