In a Single Moment

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 15,891 ratings

Price: 26.33

Last update: 11-27-2024


About this item

From million-copy bestselling author Imogen Clark comes a story of two families, two babies and one maddeningly hot day that will change their lives forever.

It’s the hottest day of the 1976 heatwave and there’s not a breath of fresh air in the labour ward at Lincoln County Hospital. Michelle is having her fourth child, a girl, while beloved husband Dean is sipping a cold pint in the pub. Their little house is already bursting at the seams, but Michelle is sure they’ll find a way to stretch their budget and continue life as a blissfully chaotic happy family. They name their new baby Donna.

In the next bed, exhausted and wearing a perfectly impractical lace-trimmed white nightgown, Sylvie has just given birth to her first child at forty and wants to sleep, while her oblivious husband Jeremy hovers and suggests he sketch this ‘perfect moment’. The midwife thinks she’ll feel more like bonding with her baby when she’s had some rest, but Sylvie isn’t so sure. She and Jeremy call their daughter Leonora.

When the two little girls are taken to their respective homes, the date of their birth seems to be the only thing to connect them. But one day, years in the future, their paths will cross again when Michelle comes looking for Sylvie—because something happened that blistering hot day, something they both deserve answers to…


Top reviews from the United States

Robin M
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, great writer!
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024
Sixth book I’ve read by Imogen Clark. Every one of them great reading: original, compelling and memorable.
The characters in this book are very believable and the storyline makes it hard to put down. I highly recommend her books!
Elmcfrisky
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting premise.
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2024
Well written fun read/listen. Thought provoking. In current times there would be an easy solution. :) I do recommend reading this novel.
sally hallman
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this author!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2024
I love this author, she always has a great story to tell and she is so good with the characterization and emotions. I feel like I know these people every time I read a story of hers. I don’t want to comment on the story itself except to say that it was a page turner for me. I think you will love it too.
kenna
3.0 out of 5 stars It was okay
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2024
This book wasn’t horrible, i thought it was well written but the story was a bit boring to me
Turtlegirl
4.0 out of 5 stars unique twist of fates
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2024
A bit of a moral dilemma… I liked how it went back and forth with each family. The ending was a bit of a shock but I enjoyed it overall.
KL
5.0 out of 5 stars That feeling of not be!ongoing is universal
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2024
Each person in this story of families and secrets is haunted by that ineffable sense of not fitting into his assigned role. In this case, more than one character suffers from an inability to connect.
Michelle and Sylvie go into labor on opposite sides of town. They deliver their babies in the same hospital and are assigned the same room. The babies are with them for a while but both are removed to the nursery. In the morning, Michelle's husband picks her up with the other kids. Before the family goes home, Michelle requests the green onesie that Baby Donna was dressed in when she went back to the nursery in the night. It is brought to her and they all go home.
Michelle begins studying the baby's face. She begins to suspect that this child is not Donna, her baby. No, the child is Sylvie's daughter, the one with the posh name of Leonora. Michelle struggled with this new idea, afraid to bring it up to her husband Dean, not sure if he could handle such news, if he would think she was crazy. She went to the hospital where she was reassured and offered counseling because obviously, they thought she was crazy. She finally decided to accept this child and love it. A baby needed loving, after all.
Meanwhile, Sylvie cannot bring herself to feel like a mother. She didn't ever plan to be one. She made her 'No children' ban perfectly clear, She was an artist not a mother. Jeremy had no problem with that. He was an artist too. They loved their London art scene and lifestyle. Over time Jeremy's domineering—and very rich—mother pressured them to move home, and now, to produce an heir. Sylvie looked at the baby in her home, in her life, and wondered why she couldn't feel that motherly feeling. This was her child. Why did she feel nothing for it?
There is a confrontation, as there has to be. It is the two daughters who face the boundaries of their new reality as both families realign to build on what they have.
Of all of them, it is Michelle and Leo who face reality and make what they can of it. Michelle sees a child who needs a mother, so she mothers the child and loves her regardless. Leo walks away to build her own family, an abandoned house full of addicts. Leo takes a first aid class to keep her people safe from themselves.
All of those people are deeply affected by one careless moment in the nursery, one forgetful person who fails to put on the newborn ID bracelet, one person who should have realized if a baby in the nursery is wearing the green onesie that the mother is requesting, maybe the baby in the nursery is her baby. Logic. Why would a non-hospital onesie jump from one infant to another?
There was a string of errors—not one careless moment but many. Such tiny mistakes that added up to change so many lives. And two of them always felt they didn't belong.
BookWorm
4.0 out of 5 stars In a single moment
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024
In a single moment, is a fascinating moment when Michelle thinks her baby got no ed up in the nursery with the baby of the woman who had a baby girl like Michelle. This is a truly fascinating story.
Bella
5.0 out of 5 stars Very exciting
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2024
I loved this book! What if? I just kept reading and tried to guess the end. I could not put it down and the end didn't disappoint me. I really loved the end. It made me very happy and I appreciated the family being close and all the follow up between them. Enjoy!

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