The premise of the The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard is that there are two girls who are born on the same day in the same hospital in a small town to two very different families. This story covers the girls’ lives through their mid-fifties. During their early years, the mother of Girl-A is overly interested in keeping track of the family Girl-B, driving to where ever they have moved to on the girls’ mutual birthday. Mother-A always wanted to know about the development of Girl-B, her education, spiritual development. You got the sense early on that this was a baby switched at birth story.
The story chronicles both girls not feeling a part of their family. Girl-A was artistic like Mother-B, Girl-B had similar interests and temperament as Father-A. The main train wreck is when Girl-A is in a relationship with Girl-B’s brother, which is really HER brother. She gets pregnant, Mother-A tells brother the truth, but not Girl-A and makes Girl-A get an abortion.
The real reveal though is not only were the girls switched at birth, but Father-A is actually the father of both girls. He was the one to suppress Mother-A from saying anything when they got home from the hospital and she suspected Girl-A was not her daughter. Both girls were his and he liked the idea of raising the daughter of his affair, having a bit of Mother-B around him all of the time.
There is the ick factor of the incest, the wanting to slap the father for his selfishness, but it was a good story showing the family and personal struggles of these two girls.
