Love Forms
Love Forms is a 2025 novel by author Claire Adam which tells the story of Dawn, an emigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who lives in present-day London and is trying to find her lost daughter whom she was forced to give up for adoption in 1980. Dawn was 16 years old at the time, and her family had forced her to give up her daughter for adoption after an unintended pregnancy.
The novel was longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, with the judging panel praising Adam's exploration of the main character Dawn, stating: "Dawn's voice haunts us still, with its beautiful and quiet urgency".
Narrative
Sixteen-year-old Dawn Bishops becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a foreign tourist during Carnival in 1980. Born to an affluent and influential family in Trinidad and Tobago, her parents are humiliated and disappointed with this unexpected pregnancy. Her parents arrange for Dawn to travel to a convent in Venezuela where Dawn gives birth to a baby girl while under the care of nuns. She then gives the baby girl to the nuns who place her up for adoption, and Dawn travels back to Trinidad. Her parents encourage Dawn to suppress the entire event and it is rarely ever discussed.Forty years later, living in London, Dawn is now 58, recently divorced and with two adult sons. She long retired as a general practitioner and now works as a receptionist for an estate agent, a career choice she made so she can devote more time to raising her boys. At this stage of her life, Dawn feels emptiness and a longing to reconnect with her lost daughter. She begins the search, speaking to others on online adoption groups. Dawn is then contacted by Monica, a 42-year-old woman from Italy, adopted in Venezuela, who believes she is Dawn's daughter.