You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO request is from Selene:
I can’t remember the title or author. I Need help
the book starts like this – the hero is outside, cutting wood & the heroine
drives up with a baby. She says she came to see him – tells him, that the
girl is his & her sister’sThe woman makes figures out of sticks – She leaves them as littles clues in
his house.
She’d come to leave the baby with him becoz social services were going to
take the child away from herIn the story, The hero’s wife is dead – he goes to a village to forget the
grief , meets a young gentle woman.They fall in love & he gives her a ring
he wears around his neck.Then he goes away to arrange things to marry her but he has an accident &
gets amnesia.he forgets her completely – only remembers the grief of his first wife
dying.The woman gets pregnant & has a little girl – she has realised that the man
has amnesia & has forgotten all about her – so she pretends that the baby is
her sister’s. He finally remembers her from all the stick figures she makes
& then everything’s all right.
This sounds seriously creepy to me – is anyone getting chills from the stick figures? I probably watched the Blair Witch Project too much.
No, that sounds incredibly creepy, I’m with you. Have no idea what the book is, but if anyone left figures made out of sticks around my house, I would assume the Blair Witch was going to come make me stand in a corner. “JOSH!”
I tried googling for the answer just out of curiousity, but had no luck. However, thanks to my search I did wind up stumbling across the Smart Bitches review of Pregnesia. As SB Sarah says, PREG-EFFING-NESIA. So it was time well spent.
Oops, forgot to mention that I did find one possible contender, called “Remember Me, Cowboy” by Caroline Burnes, published by Harlequin in the 90s…the description seems to fit but no mention of stick figures, which seems like a glaring omission.
I think the book you’re looking for is The Baby Gift by Day Leclaire, but the baby on the cover is a boy.
From the back cover:
I only skimmed this book a few years ago so I can’t say the details are correct, but the basic premise is the same. And I looked at the first page and the hero talks about a chain with a ring on it! This also takes place in a secluded area in the woods.
If you’re looking for stories with the same premise, there is also The Playboy’s Baby? by Crystal Green (a novella)
I did some more skimming. The hero was divorced. The heroine and hero meet again at the start of the book when the hero was chopping wood. And he found out the heroine’s identity by some figurines the she made.
Uhhh…yeah. Hope this is the book you’re looking for!!
I think I may have nightmares tonight. Seriously. My eyes are watering right now with fright, thinking of little stick figures appearing around the house! NOW SCARY VIOLIN MUSIC IS PLAYING IN MY HEAD! GAH!
I’m probably the only one not creeped out by the twig figures, but then I’m an artist. I just read the HaBo and thought, “that’s cool – not many romances feature sculptors or doll makers as the heroine”. And to have the little figures save the hero? Even better.
Not exactly on topic with the book, but if you get a chance, check out the movie Random Harvest starring Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman. Total tearjerker amnesia story with a twist (if you haven’t read the book). The best part is just listening to Garson & Coleman talk. SWOON—the accents!
Hi Ya all!
Thanks a lot for helping out. I think Sally’s right – I think it’s The Baby Gift by Day Leclaire.
I don’t know if maybe I might have forgotten that the baby is a boy instead of the a girl but the ring on a chain bit is absolutely correct.
I think it’s the one but I’ll have to try to find the book to be sure. But thanks a lot, Sally!
That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to the story.
Take care,
And thanks again everyone,
Selene