When the pretending ends, the lying begins . . . Molly Arnette is good at keeping secrets. As she and her husband try to adopt a baby, she worries that the truth she's kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. Molly ran away from her family twenty years ago after a shocking event left her devastated and distrustful of those she loved. Now, as she tries to find a way to make peace with her past and embrace a healthy future, she discovers that even she doesn't know the truth of what happened in her family of pretenders.
Molly's story is told alternately though her modern day life in San Diego and her life as a fourteen year old in North Carolina, it tells the tale of an unsure - slightly geeky kid from a really good, close family - albeit a slightly unconventional one. She's extremely happy and has a really wonderful father, until something unthinkable happens.
She hides what happened in her childhood well until she and her husband decide to adopt a child, and the subject of open adoption (where the birth mother is involved in the child's life) comes up, then memories and hidden fears from her past come flooding back, with that and bad news it brings her memories very much to the fore of her mind.
This was a truly wonderful book, one that will stick with me for a very long time. I instinctively felt a huge pull towards Molly's wonderful father, he is a therapist and just handles every situation in the most amazing way - I wish I had his 'answer for everything' way with my teenagers! I also felt a connection with Graham as like him, I too suffer from Multiple Sclerosis, and that's where it got sticky for me. If you read the book you will see that extremely hard hitting issues are tackled that kind of scared me - a lot! However Chamberlain makes it quite clear that Graham has a rare and extremely aggressive form, still made me think and I would probably exercise caution if you are a sufferer, maybe I'm too sensitive - I don't know?
I do still feel the HUGE need to give this book five stars as it was a truly wonderful book and a really wonderful story! It will be a read you won't forget...
Review copy kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment