The Dream Daughter: A Novel
New York Times bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a thrilling, mind-bending novel about one mother's journey to save her child.
When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam war, receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly's part. And all for the love of her unborn child. The Dream Daughter is a rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget. Praise for The Dream Daughter: "Chamberlain writes with supernatural gifts...fate, destiny, chance and hope combine for a heady and breathless wonder of a read." --Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan's Tale "Can a story be both mind-bending and heartfelt? In Diane Chamberlain's hands, it can. The Dream Daughter will hold readers in anxious suspense until the last satisfying page." --Therese Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of ZShow more
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Community Reviews
It is 1970, and Caroline Sears is pregnant with her first child. When she learns that the unborn child has a heart defect and there is nothing that medical science can offer her, she is devastated, in part, because her husband, Joe, was recently killed in the Vietnam war.
Her brother-in-law, Hunter, is a physicist, who appeared mysteriously in their lives a few years earlier. A patient in the hospital where Caroline was a physical therapist, Hunter had no family or friends, and the circumstances surrounding his injury were suspicious, shrouded in secrecy. Still, he fell in love with and married Caroline's sister, and has proven to be a wonderful husband.
But Hunter tells Caroline a whopper of a tale. He claims that there is help available for the baby, but in order to obtain it, Caroline will have to summon her courage and strength. She will need to take -- quite literally -- a huge leap of faith that will allow her to travel to the future.
The Dream Daughter bears all the hallmarks of a Diane Chamberlain novel. Complex family relationships and characters facing enormous challenges who must find their own resilience and determination in order to overcome them. But The Dream Daughter also features a science fiction aspect -- time travel. Chamberlain has concocted a wildly imaginative story that involves the intricacies of propelling oneself forward into the future, as well as the ability to travel backward in time. And, in Caroline's case, with the correct calculations and no small amount of luck, return home to carry on her life as the mother of a healthy baby girl.
In the hands of a less-skilled writer, The Dream Daughter could have been a ridiculous story. But because of Chamberlain's deft handling of the plot nuances and her signature development of the characters, The Dream Daughter is an utterly charming -- indeed, mesmerizing -- but fanciful story about the lengths to which one woman will go in order to save her child. And the sacrifices she is willing to make in order to ensure that her child is not only healthy, but happy and provided for. It is also a look at what it means to have faith in and completely trust another human being, as well as one's own instincts.
To say more about the book would require giving away key plot points and spoiling the sometimes harrowing surprises Chamberlain injects into the story. Caroline and Hunter, the main characters, are surrounded by a supporting cast of fascinating, quirky characters. Caroline is earnest, naive (at the outset), and tested in ways that parents who have ever had to make sacrifices for a child will relate to. The unpredictable story will keep readers guessing until the conclusion. Chamberlain provides an emotionally satisfying and entirely plausible ending that is both heart-warming and haunting. Stories about time travel has long been hugely popular, and The Dream Daughter is a worthy addition to the genre.
Thanks to Net Galley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Her brother-in-law, Hunter, is a physicist, who appeared mysteriously in their lives a few years earlier. A patient in the hospital where Caroline was a physical therapist, Hunter had no family or friends, and the circumstances surrounding his injury were suspicious, shrouded in secrecy. Still, he fell in love with and married Caroline's sister, and has proven to be a wonderful husband.
But Hunter tells Caroline a whopper of a tale. He claims that there is help available for the baby, but in order to obtain it, Caroline will have to summon her courage and strength. She will need to take -- quite literally -- a huge leap of faith that will allow her to travel to the future.
The Dream Daughter bears all the hallmarks of a Diane Chamberlain novel. Complex family relationships and characters facing enormous challenges who must find their own resilience and determination in order to overcome them. But The Dream Daughter also features a science fiction aspect -- time travel. Chamberlain has concocted a wildly imaginative story that involves the intricacies of propelling oneself forward into the future, as well as the ability to travel backward in time. And, in Caroline's case, with the correct calculations and no small amount of luck, return home to carry on her life as the mother of a healthy baby girl.
In the hands of a less-skilled writer, The Dream Daughter could have been a ridiculous story. But because of Chamberlain's deft handling of the plot nuances and her signature development of the characters, The Dream Daughter is an utterly charming -- indeed, mesmerizing -- but fanciful story about the lengths to which one woman will go in order to save her child. And the sacrifices she is willing to make in order to ensure that her child is not only healthy, but happy and provided for. It is also a look at what it means to have faith in and completely trust another human being, as well as one's own instincts.
To say more about the book would require giving away key plot points and spoiling the sometimes harrowing surprises Chamberlain injects into the story. Caroline and Hunter, the main characters, are surrounded by a supporting cast of fascinating, quirky characters. Caroline is earnest, naive (at the outset), and tested in ways that parents who have ever had to make sacrifices for a child will relate to. The unpredictable story will keep readers guessing until the conclusion. Chamberlain provides an emotionally satisfying and entirely plausible ending that is both heart-warming and haunting. Stories about time travel has long been hugely popular, and The Dream Daughter is a worthy addition to the genre.
Thanks to Net Galley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
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