Shannon's Library

LET’S GET EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK!

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. All for the love of her unborn child.

Shannon’s Rating – PG-13 (One f-word.)

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LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!

(Vague spoiler ahead about how Carly will try to save her baby. If you want to go completely blind into this book…stop reading now and come back after you’ve read it!)

“The Dream Daughter,” by Diane Chamberlain, poses the questions… What would you do to save the life of your un-born child? What would you be willing to risk? Would you risk traveling through time?

You probably know by now, that I’m a big fan of time travel stories. I’ve read quite a lot of them. If a book summary mentions someone traveling through time – chances are, I’m going to read that book. And “The Dream Daughter,” is no exception. The interesting thing about this book, however, is the reason or the circumstances for our heroine’s time travel experience was unique to anything I have read before. A prospective mother traveling through time to save her unborn child – a child who is all she has left of her husband lost to the Vietnam war. So very intriguing, right?

“The Dream Daughter” is a unique blend of historical fiction, science fiction and family drama. While there is a lot going on in this book, a mother’s love for her child is at the very heart of the story.

Diane Chamberlain was once asked how and why she came up with the plotline for this book.

“My first career – long ago – was as a hospital social worker in a high-risk maternity unit. When I look back at that experience, I think about the babies who couldn’t survive back then because their conditions couldn’t be treated. If they had been born a few decades later, however, medical advances might have given them a better chance at survival. That started me thinking: what if a woman in 1970 learns that her unborn baby will die, but someone – in this case her beloved brother-in-law – confides that he’s from the future and there is a way to help her baby in 2001. Once I had that idea, it begged to be turned into a book.”

Diane Chamberlain

In the spirit of motherhood and babies…here’s a nostalgic look back at my kiddos…

Would I have travelled through time to save these babies of mine? The answer is a resounding YES!

Writing this review also has me thinking of the women who have lost babies that couldn’t be saved. Or those who have lost older children. Or those who haven’t been able to have children. I suffered a miscarriage between my oldest and my second child. I know that pain. I lost a sister and I see the sadness that loss still evokes for my mom, all these years later. Motherhood, nay, womanhood is full of all kinds of emotions. One of the reasons I love to read is the empathy I get to feel reading these types of stories. It’s not possible for me to experience everything that all womankind has and will experience. But through reading other women’s stories – both fictional and nonfictional – my womanly bond is strengthened. My love and empathy for those who struggle grows. Reading truly is a beautiful thing.