From Booklist
This enticing tale revolves around a kidnapping, which occurred three decades before the action commences; it is resolved when a mother's deathbed confession leads her daughter, Snow, on a search for her natural mother. Snow, snatched in a New York City grocery store by the woman who raised her in a small Rhode Island town, faces a dual mystery--the identity of her natural mother and the real nature and name of the woman who raised her. The first mystery is readily solved via library research and police files. Naturally, her birth mother turns out to be an acclaimed artist, her mirror image, and a loving, fascinating person. Together they dodge reporters, give a single news conference, and shun potential moneymaking options--TV movies, talk shows, etc. After all, Snow is now a millionaire thanks to her late mother's confession. The second mystery is left unsatisfyingly open. Snow's about-face nonchalance, her "I may never know" attitude, does not suit the character Vale has so carefully scripted and is a letdown for the readers. Still, the story is well contrived, peopled with characters the reader could know, and breathtakingly paced. Denise Perry Donavin

Book Description
At thirty-one, Snow Devane is a successful photographer living in Manhattan. Her life is all she wants it to be. And she has finally managed to establish some distance from the mother who would, given the opportunity, suffocate her with caring concern. Then on her deathbed, Snow's mother confesses to an unthinkable crime. She kidnapped an infant from a New York City supermarket. Snow is somebody's baby, but not hers. Snow's entire life now appears to be a lie. Who was Anne Cooke? What drove her to steal another woman's child? And, most important, who is Snow Devane? In the grip of fearful panic, she and her closest friend, Katie Shimura, set out to learn Snow's identity and to try to find her birth parents. Somebody's Baby is a study of a young woman's search for the truth, and of the painful possibility that we may not get the answers to every question; that we may also get some answers we don't like. But, ultimately, we might just discover what matters most to us.

About the Author
Born in Toronto, Canada, the author lived in England for three years before moving to the U.S. in 1966. A full-time writer since the publication of her first novel, Love Life, in 1976, she has studied painting and photography. Since 1970 she has made her home in Connecticut.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At thirty-one, Snow Devane is a successful photographer living in Manhattan. Her life is all she wants it to be. And she has finally managed to establish some distance from the mother who would, given the opportunity, suffocate her with caring concern.

Then on her deathbed, Snow's mother confesses to an unthinkable crime. She kidnapped an infant from a New York City supermarket. Snow is somebody's baby, but not hers.

Snow's entire life now appears to be a lie. Who was Anne Cooke? What drove her to steal another woman's child? And, most important, who is Snow Devane? In the grip of fearful panic, she and her closest friend, Katie Shimura, set out to learn Snow's identity and to try to find her birth parents.

Somebody's Baby is a study of a young woman's search for the truth, and of the painful possibility that we may not get the answers to every question; that we may also get some answers we don't like. But, ultimately, we might just discover what matters most to us.