Danah Calsely was only nine when her mother abandoned her. Years later, as a promising Sociology PhD candidate, Danah appears largely unaffected by this traumatic loss — until she finds a letter that she’s convinced is from her missing mother. The truth about Jane Lily and her disappearance is wrapped in a long history of silence, and Danah’s grandmother, Edith, has no interest in rehashing the past.

Danah becomes obsessed with the letter and the secrets she believes Edith is keeping from her. Edith is convinced she’s only protecting her granddaughter, but she has her own reasons for staying silent. As for Jane Lily herself, she has a certain knack for disappearing.

A story of heartbreak and hope, guilt and redemption, Sins of the Daughter explores the fragility of the bond between mothers and daughters and the domino effect that the choices of one generation have on the next.

Carolyn Huizinga Mills' first picture book, The Little Boy Who Lived Down the Drain, was chosen as a 2018 Blue Spruce Honour Book, which gave Carolyn the opportunity to meet many excited readers through school visits and at the Forest of Reading Festival in Toronto. Her debut novel, The Good Son, was published in March 2021, and her second novel is scheduled to follow within a year or so. Carolyn plans to write many more books and can be found snuggled up in her office at 5am most mornings with her notebook or laptop and a hot mug of tea. She is also a grade 7 teacher, which allows her to share her passion for reading and writing with her students. She grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and now lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband and two children. Carolyn loves playing soccer, camping, traveling, and eating dark chocolate. Reading Blue Spruce and Yellow Cedar Awards, among many others. Born in a future police station in London, England, Deborah now lives in Thornhill, Ontario with her husband, two kids, and a rescue Schnoodle named Freddie.

Carolyn Huizinga Mills' profile page

“A brilliant read, and a beautiful one — this story is a harrowing reminder that love and nurture, and their ineffaceable intertwining from birth, though not perhaps always a given, are always, nonetheless, a necessity.”

Bookly Matters

“Complex, character-driven story.”

Grand

“At some point, this is every mother’s nightmarish dream — to just walk away from it all. With sharp insight and superb storytelling, Carolyn Huizinga Mills tracks three generations of women through a gripping familial maze that gets to the heart of what it means to be a mother and a daughter.”

Merilyn Simonds, author of The Convict Lover and Woman, Watching

“A fearless, intense, and insightful examination of mothers and daughters, families and secrets, Sins of the Daughter is a taut and wise book that spirals its readers through unmissable twists and turns while staying grounded in complex and fascinating character studies.”

Open Book

“The characters are vividly rendered within a story that explores emotional themes of abandonment, betrayal, and loneliness, but also identity, family, hope and redemption. Thought-provoking and affecting, this is a story about the intricacies of family bonds and the longing for connection between mothers and daughters.”

The Baking Bookworm