Kensington Books (Paperback), ISBN 1-57566-713-4
Thirteen years ago Dr. Byron Frazer lost his beloved wife Lori and cast off his newborn son Ian. The 21-year-old Byron, a struggling college student, could offer nothing to a motherless baby but grief, pain and poverty. At the time, giving Ian away seemed the best thing to do. Now, the 34-year-old Byron, a successful psychologist, author and TV personality, questions his decision when he learns of the death of Ian's adoptive parents. Their death sends Ian to their relatives in faraway Cornwall, England. Suddenly it's time to find Ian.

Finding Ian explores the heart-wrenching consequences of giving up a baby for adoption, then confronting that child years later. Adoptees usually look for their biological parents. In Finding Ian, Stella Cameron turns the tables; the biological father wants his son back.

Cameron sets up a complicated scenario with no easy answers. Ian's new guardian, Muriel Perron, may not be what an adolescent needs. After all, what does an aging spinster aunt know about 13-year-old boys? But discovering his father, the man who gave him away, may not help Ian either.

The woman who befriends Ian and ends up falling in love with his father arrives in overalls early one morning. Jade Perron came to Ferryneath Cottage, the Cornwall house Byron rented, to paint and repair the cottage. She runs Perron and Son, the family construction business.

While she paints and hangs wallpaper, she restores more than broken pipes and peeling walls. She rebuilds family ties and uncovers some emotions she didn't expect, while Byron constructs a fragile relationship with his son.

Along the way, Byron discovers more in Cornwall than finding Ian. He begins to find himself and to reclaim emotions he lost when Lori died.

Cameron tells a poignant story about the value of family, lost and found. She creates complex characters that make us examine our own family connections. Finding Ian goes beyond the romantic tale, but Cameron doesn't ignore the romance. She gives us a love story about second chances that makes us smile and sometimes cry.

Doris Valliant

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