Kate Phillips--17 years old, unmarried, and pregnant--and her younger sister Tyler have been abandoned by their parents. Cancer took their beloved mother two years before, and their father has emotionally left them, choosing to spend his time with his new girlfriend and her two young boys, returning to his home and daughters sporadically to leave money and assuage his guilty conscience.

Tyler and Kate deliver Kate's baby girl all alone, in their quiet suburban house, their BMW silently parked in the garage. Kate insists that her baby's existence must remain hidden, but inevitably, the sisters' secrets are discovered, involving the police and children's protective services. Whether their father will retain custody of his two underage daughters, whether Kate will retain custody of her new baby daughter, and whether the father of Kate's child will remain out of jail are all questionable.

Jessica Barksdale Inclán's novel has a plot, pulled from contemporary headlines, that gives readers a true and unsettling view of American society and the low value placed on its children. While all the characters in the tale attempt to justify their actions, the essential selfishness of the adults comes through with disturbing clarity. Everyone pays a high price, but none more so than Kate and Tyler, whose youth and innocence are lost through the actions of adults who should have protected them--who, instead, use and abandon them. Powerful and poignant, Her Daughter's Eyes is an impressive debut. --Lois Faye Dyer