Book review-Unexpected, a short story, by Rosie lewis

I’ve just finished another fabulous book by Rosie Lewis, this is another of her short stories.
Ellen, who is 28, has just given birth to a baby. She never knew she was pregnant. 2 days after the birth she abandons her baby, and the baby is taken into foster care. Rosie takes over care of the newborn who is named hope after the paramedic who delivered her.
At first rosie cant imagine why any mother would abandon their baby. The midwife had said that she thought Ellen had post traumatic stress disorder, that some mothers after a difficult labour sometimes got diagnosed with the disorder.
a couple of weeks after Rosie starts looking after Hope, Ellen starts to visit and she has access to hope for 2 hours a day. At first she is very afraid to do anything with her baby, she doesnt pick her up, she doesnt even want to look at her. She’s happy to do jobs for Rosie like folding baby clothes, making bottles etc. But she doesnt want to bond with her baby, she cant seem to do that, something is holding her back.
Eventually after a couple of weeks Hopes social worker Graham says they are looking to have Hope adopted. He thinks Ellen is trouble and despite Rosie trying to speak on Ellens behalf plans go ahead to have Hope adopted. Rosie decides that she will have to do something drastic or Ellen could lose hope forever.
One day while Ellen is visiting the phone starts ringing and rosie makes a snap decision to hand Hope to Ellen. It is the start of them bonding. Eventually Ellen opens up to rosie about her past and her childhood. It turns out Ellens mother abused her, she beat her and starved her and verbally abused her. Ellens father was distant and worked long hours. Ellen also tells rosie that her older sister made allegations that her father had sexually abused her. She tells Rosie she is a horrible person and she should not be allowed to keep Hope. She says she cant look after her that she is afraid she will do what her mother did. Rosie encourages her and tells her that she is not her mother and she can love Hope and give her all the things that she never had as a child.
Over the next few weeks the bond between Ellen and hope grows increasingly stronger and stronger. Then Ellen finds out that social services are still planning on having hope adopted. Rosie tells her that she will have to fight to keep her and she must prove to the social workers that she is comitted and wants to keep her daughter. Eventually it turns out that Hope is allowed to go back to her mother, ellen is thrilled.
The book ends with Hope being reunited with her mother and Ellen tells Rosie that if it wasnt for her this never would have happened. The epilogue says that Hope is now 9 and Rosie and Ellen stayed in touch after Ellen got Hope back. Mark Ellens boyfriend who had broken up with her at the start of the book was now back on the scene and the couple stayed together and brought hope up together.
This is a really good book. I loved it. It was well written and would be a good read for foster parents, social workers, abuse survivors, or just anyone who likes true life stories.