Cate grips the note with trembling hands, looking down at the delicate bundle on her doorstep. As she reaches down to the baby, she knows she has finally got everything she’s ever wished for. But is he hers to take? Cate tries not to cry as she closes the door on the nursery room once again. All she has ever wanted is to be a mother. Cursed with a medical condition that means she is unable to have children, her only option is to wait for a call from the adoption center. But that call feels like a lifetime away.

I’ve lived on this quiet street for years, in the same house I once shared with my husband and our beloved daughter, Chloe. Now they’re both gone and my home, that used to be filled with laughter, is too quiet, too still. When a little boy I don’t recognize knocks at my door, without a parent in sight, I’m shocked. He trembles with nerves, and I tell him I can help find his mother. But I’m not prepared for what he says next. I’m left frozen, heart pounding in my chest.

I’ve always longed to be a mother. So when my sister Sophia suddenly offers to be a surrogate for my husband Mark and I, it feels like our dream could finally come true. Sophia and I may have drifted apart, but tears of joy prick my eyes when I think about the precious, perfect gift she is giving us. And even though Mark is acting distant, I’m sure this will make us stronger than ever. When Sophia starts talking to us less and less I can’t help but worry… is it just like twenty years ago, when she disappeared from my life? Or will it be different now she’s carrying our miracle baby?

I never expected to have to uproot my family to go live in my parents’ isolated cottage on Lost Lake. It’s twenty miles to the nearest town, an insignificant speck in endless pine forests. Nobody’s lived here for a decade. Now, I pick up a rusty pail from its nest of autumn leaves and turn to my daughter. Suddenly, I recall how I used to help my own mother pick wild strawberries up here as a little girl. Maybe, this isn’t a punishment. Maybe this place will be the making of our family.

When the call finally comes, my life as I know it is over—my job as a teacher, my marriage, my family are all gone. In a heartbeat, I’ve lost everything that ever mattered to me. All because of one secret and what someone thinks she saw....

No matter what life throws at me, I have always been able to depend on my best friend Rachel. In nineteen years of friendship, we’ve never argued or fallen out. So, I’m wracked by guilt over my decision to keep her daughter Chloe’s pregnancy a secret. I don’t want to break Chloe’s trust but, if I don’t say anything, it could destroy my relationship with Rachel. I hoped Chloe would find the confidence to tell her mom, but days have passed, and the guilt is eating me alive. As much as I want to support Chloe, I don’t know how much longer l can lie to my best friend.

There are two little girls in the photo. I instantly recognize myself as the small, dark-haired child in the purple dress. But who is the girl with the long, blonde hair laughing at the camera? And why is the photograph here, in a stranger’s house? When I find the tattered picture hidden away at the back of a dusty cupboard in Amy’s house, my mouth goes dry with shock. Though I haven’t known Amy for very long, I love looking after her young children, in her picture-perfect hilltop house with its sprawling wildflower garden and bright, airy kitchen. 

When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t have been happier. Ever since my own father died, I’d felt utterly lost. But you changed everything. Finally, I had found my purpose: to be the best mother I could be. But I couldn’t–wouldn’t–tell anyone who your father was. I could never forget the look in his eyes that day. The betrayal written across his face. All the things we didn’t say and the secret that tore us apart.

My hand trembles as I stare at the anonymous text. On this sunny Saturday morning, our twin ten-year-old boys were playing in the park just down our tree-lined street. But only one of them has come home… and it’s all my husband’s fault. I race to Leo’s study and demand answers. As his face turns white, I know: one of his affairs has turned deadly. I always smell the unfamiliar perfume on his shirt. I try to pretend we are a happy family, for the sake of the children… but now, my child is in terrible danger.

Ever since Ruby was tiny, she has been unique. Her smiles are magically rare, and she likes things done in a very particular way - her blocks are always color-coded, and her toy animals stand in regimented lines. She’s also the daughter of Sara’s dreams - even on days when being a mother to a three-year-old is exhausting. Not everyone understands Ruby like Sara does though. Not Sara’s husband Mike, and certainly not her disapproving mother-in-law, Barbara. So when circumstances force their family to move in with Barbara, Sara knows it’s going to make motherhood even harder. 

When tragedy brings biological sisters Jessica Williams and Reeve Elliot together, the initial shock of learning of each other’s existence is quickly replaced by a commitment to be there for each other. As the bond between the two women deepens, their relationship is tested in ways they’d never have imagined. When Jess’s past comes back to haunt her, the nightmare that is Reeve’s present intensifies.

A bright and welcoming haven, the playgroup sits at the heart of the town, tucked away inside a red-brick building. The Nest should have been the safest place for my rosy-cheeked, pink-obsessed daughter, Florence. Run by mothers like me, I trusted my newfound friends–Alice, Beth and Georgie–to take care of my child. But now my choice has left Florence fighting for her life.

When Sophie Weiss boards the SS St Louis, she has no reason to stay in Germany. The Nazis have taken everything from her, and her only hope is escape. But when she meets fellow Jewish refugees Rosa, Hannah and Rachel on board, the friendship they form gives Sophie hope that there can be happiness in her future, after all.

When their last embryo is accidentally given to another woman, Quinn and James reminisce about the child they gave up 4 years prior... All Quinn has ever wanted is to be a mother. Although her husband James brings her comfort, the knowledge they have no embryos left, and that their child is out there being raised by another family, is tearing them both apart. When the clinic tells Quinn and James they have the right to spend time with little Emily, at first they hesitate. Of course, they would never want to come between Emily and her loving family.

I’ll do anything to keep my daughter. But so will my husband… As I look across the courtroom at the man I once shared everything with, I can’t believe it’s come to this. I can see in his eyes: he is here to destroy me. But I can’t let him have our little girl. We swore to keep our divorce civil, for Lola. We agreed to put her first and keep her safe. Then the lawyers got involved, and all our promises went up in smoke.