Both Cleaving and Cleaving is a story about adoption and family preservation, losing and winning, grief and love. It’s an intimate look into the life of a birth mother and represents some of what it’s like to live with placing a child for adoption.
Luca Jones thought choosing to walk out of the hospital without her child was excruciating. Now, five years later, she knows that was a cakewalk compared to daily living with that decision. It’s changed her, made her harder and softer at the same time. And she has become passionate about a few things: 1. advocacy for birth parents, 2. advocacy for vulnerable and traumatized children, and 3. fighting for family preservation. She is sure there is nothing and no one can change her mind about those things.
Boaz Stone is an adult adoptee adopted from foster care who detests his birth mother. When Luca meets Boaz, she is determined to change his perception of birth mothers. The two begin to spend time together, talking about adoption, and before long, they have fallen for each other. But when Luca dismisses her cousin’s neglect of her daughter, she and Boaz quickly discover they have differing ideas about protecting children. When the law gets involved, Luca must decide whether to fight for her cousin’s family preservation or if advocating for her cousin’s vulnerable daughter means splitting them apart.
