Finding Isobel

Behan (A Measured Thread) delivers an immersive story of a woman’s search for answers about her birth. In rural Wisconsin, Isobel Babić receives an unexpected inheritance of $50,000 from the woman for whom she was a full-time caregiver. Isobel, who was raised in Canada, delays her plan to start veterinary school and flies to New Zealand to visit her adoptive parents, Novak and Christina, who live there now, and get answers about the circumstances of her adoption. Novak, who was born in Yugoslavia, discloses that Isobel is the daughter of his brother, Toma, who arranged for a woman to bring Isobel to Canada from Sarajevo after his wife, Amela, was killed during the Bosnian war. Though Novak’s acquaintances in Bosnia told him that Toma died in the war, Isobel flies to Sarajevo to meet with Gordana, the woman who brought her to Canada, and discovers some startling information about her birth parents. Behan expertly traces the complex web of relationships surrounding an adoption and Isobel’s conflicted emotions upon uncovering her family’s secrets. This will move readers. (Self-published)