Diane Chamberlain
Necessary Lies

Necessary Lies

I sat next to Diane at dinner Sunday night and now I want to read everything she's ever written.

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Pretending to Dance: A Novel

Pretending to Dance: A Novel

$18.38
Author:
Series: Quick Lit 10/15
Genre: Mystery
Tag: Quick Lit

Chamberlain is known for writing contemporary Southern fiction featuring strong female characters and not shying away from sensitive subjects. In this novel, her thirtysomething heroine's adoption process forces her to confront secrets she's been keeping for twenty years about her family of origin. Chamberlain uses two narrative voices—that of 14-year-old Molly and 20-years-older Molly, to explore the power of the secrets we keep out of fear and shame and the pretending that can actually make us strong. This is the first book I've read by Diane Chamberlain; The Silent Sister is next on my list.

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Secrets She Left Behind

Secrets She Left Behind

Booklist calls this "a fast-paced read that...explores the psychological complexity of a family pushed to its limits."

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Keeper of the Light

Keeper of the Light

Publishers Weekly calls this "an absorbing tale of romantic obsession and betrayal."

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The Silent Sister

The Silent Sister

$12.99$2.99Audiobook: 12.99 (Whispersync)

When I read my first Chamberlain novel last year, you all told me I had to read this one next. From Suspense Magazine: "…the readers of this tale will be surprised and shocked by the unveiling of a truth that they will never guess up front. Chamberlain has written an excellent novel with well-thought-out plotlines that never lose the suspense lover's interest for one solitary second."

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The Midwife’s Confession

The Midwife’s Confession

Booklist calls this, "A complex, heart-wrenching tale, Chamberlains' latest novel offers a Jodi Picoult-like story line yanked from the most shocking of headlines." From the publisher: "The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle—her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—described a woman who embraced life. Yet there was so much they didn't know."

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Secret Lives

Secret Lives

From Publishers Weekly: "The brisk, atmospherically evocative narrative is absorbing reading. Eden Riley, an Oscar-winning actress and recently divorced mother of a four-year-old, returns to Lynch Hollow and the tangled roots of her Shenandoah Valley childhood to film the story of her mother, Katherine Swift , a famous author of children's books. Katherine was a solitary eccentric who wrote in the nearby cave, where she died when Eden was 11. Eden spent two years in an orphanage before she was found by her putative uncle Kyle, an archeologist, and taken to New York to live with him and his wife. Kyle, now retired to Lynch Hollow, gives Eden her mother's journals, which gradually reveal Eden's and Kyle's true relationship."

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Summer’s Child

Summer’s Child

$7.99$2.99Audiobook: 7.49 (Whispersync)

From the publisher: "Early on the morning of her eleventh birthday, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea—an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's family. Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal young woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria's childhood and now a television producer, returns at Shelly's request to do a story about the circumstances surrounding her birth, something precarious shifts. The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as closely guarded secrets and the sins of that long-ago summer begin to surface."

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The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

From the publisher: "In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she knows what happened to her missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies."

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Before the Storm

Before the Storm

From the publisher: "Laurel Lockwood lost her son once through neglect. She's spent the rest of her life determined to make up for her mistakes, and she's succeeded in becoming a committed, protective parent—maybe even overprotective. Still, she loosens her grip just enough to let Andy attend a local church social—a decision that terrifies her when the church is consumed by fire. But Andy survives…and remarkably, saves other children from the flames. Laurel watches as Andy basks in the role of unlikely hero and the world finally sees her Andy, the sweet boy she knows as well as her own heart. But when the suspicion of arson is cast upon Andy, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son…and how far she'll go to keep her promise to protect him forever."

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The Dream Daughter

The Dream Daughter

Without giving away too much: Chamberlain's novel is about the lengths a mother will go to to save her unborn child. The doctor's have told her she will be born with a fatal heart defect, and in 1970, nothing further can be done. But her mysterious physicist brother-in-law has an idea. Time travel may be involved. Diane Chamberlain is known for writing contemporary Southern fiction featuring strong female characters and not shying away from sensitive subjects. I did not expect this from her, but I'm excited to read it.

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Breaking the Silence

Breaking the Silence

From the publisher: "Laura Brandon's promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she'd never heard of before. A woman who remembers nothing—except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make. But Laura's promise results in another death. Her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it…to talk at all. Frantic and guilt ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help. A man she's met only once—six years before. A man who doesn't know he's Emma's real father. Guided only by a child's silence and an old woman's fading memories, the two unravel a tale of love and despair, of bravery and unspeakable evil. A tale that's shrouded in silence…and that unbelievably links them all."

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