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Call My Name

Call My Name

A Novel
by Jenni Ogden
Fiction - Literary
433 Pages
Reviewed on 05/18/2022
Buy on Amazon

Author Biography

Jenni Ogden and her husband live off-grid on spectacular Great Barrier Island, 100 kms off the coast of New Zealand, a perfect place to write and for grandchildren to spend their holidays. Winters are often spent in Far North Tropical Queensland, close to Killara, the fictional home in 'Call My Name', her third novel. Her debut novel published in 2016, 'A Drop in the Ocean', won multiple awards and has sold over 80,000 copies. Her second novel, 'The Moon is Missing', was published in 2020. Jenni, who holds a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology and was awarded the Distinguished Career Award by the International Neuropsychological Society in 2015, is well-known for her books featuring her patients’ moving stories: 'Fractured Minds: A Case-Study Approach to Clinical Neuropsychology', and 'Trouble In Mind: Stories from a Neuropsychologist’s Casebook'.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Emma Megan for Readers' Favorite

Call My Name by Jenni Ogden is an impressive and complex novel, especially concerning friendship, motherhood, and grief. It follows Olivia Newman, an orphaned girl who is raised by her mother's best friend, Cathie Tulloch, and her husband. Now aged 22 and a newly graduated university student, Olivia is on the path to a career in publishing, and writing novels on the side. When she finds out she's pregnant, she thinks of having an abortion without telling Ben, the father, as their relationship is very new. However, Olivia receives a letter from her foster sister, Cassandra, who asks her to return home to Australia for her wedding. Olivia's life changes completely. She is about to find out about her mother's horrible experiences in prison camps and experience the beauty and hardship of friendship, motherhood, adoption, the pain of loss, and grief.

Call My Name by Jenni Ogden felt so intense and raw that I choked up a few times while reading it. Ogden has created a unique story with a great set of characters and tragic circumstances that will surely touch your heart. In this remarkable novel, she brings out the true essence of friendship and describes in vivid detail what it means to be a mother, to lose and grieve for a family member, and to have someone by your side when life gets too hard to bear. This is a powerful and inspirational tale filled with emotional scenes about death, grief, birth trauma, abortion, war, adoption, surrogacy, friendship, and family. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Jennifer Ibiam

After thirteen-year-old Olivia became an orphan, she moved from New Zealand to live with the Tullochs in Australia. Olivia and their daughter Cassandra hit it off and formed an unbreakable bond. The duo took different paths, and she went to England for her university degree, where she struck up a romantic relationship with the charismatic Ben. Olivia was a fresh graduate when she fell pregnant and aborted it because her affair with Ben was undefined. It was 1969 when the fight for women’s rights took flight. Cassandra invited Olivia to her wedding in 1970. She moved to Australia with Ben, they reunited, and the couples lived happily in one home until tragedy struck. Was their bond strong enough to survive unscathed? Find out in Call My Name by Jenni Ogden.

Have you ever read a fictional tale that felt like a memoir? Call My Name by Jenni Ogden made the elite list. This novel was realistic, pulled at my heartstrings, and got me emotionally invested. A lot of tears and emotions went into reading this book. Call My Name explored loyalty, friendship, selflessness, manipulation, selfishness, courage, grief, love, and more. Jenni has a creative imagination in developing unforgettable characters. Olivia and Cassandra were a dynamic duo, and I felt like every decision they made had ripple effects on their families. They needed each other in small doses to mitigate catastrophe, courtesy of Cassandra. I believe Jess was a heroine, and Olivia had no right to judge her. This novel was suspense-filled, and I hope Grace gets a story. Thank you for this masterpiece, Jenni.