Daughter's Keeper

Overview

Daughter's Keeper
How much would you sacrifice to save someone you love?

When Olivia, wild-haired and headstrong, makes a terrible mistake, she must turn to the person least likely to help--her mother, Elaine. Motherhood was a role that Elaine never embraced and her best never amounted to much. But now Olivia faces prosecution for a na�ve connection to a drug deal and she needs Elaine more than ever. As the days count down and Olivia's future hangs in the balance, Elaine must decide just how much she is willing to give for a second chance with her daughter.

With Daughter's Keeper, Ayelet Waldman has crafted a redemptive journey at once highly emotional and unbearably suspenseful, as Olivia and Elaine's struggle builds to a beautiful, heart-wrenching climax. In this luminous, gripping novel, Waldman brings to life the tensions and the tenderness that forge the unshakeable bond between parent and child. Daughter's Keeper reveals the unlimited boundaries of forgiveness and the sacrifices we make for love.

"A powerhouse novel of complex emotions so compelling that when I finished the book, I started over again."--Amy Tan

"In Daughter's Keeper, Ayelet Waldman shows that the power of love, even when prickling with thorns, can ultimately provide what the criminal system cannot: a hard-fought, hard-won second chance."--Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil

"Waldman's passion and affection for her characters shine through."--Publishers Weekly

"Waldman has written Daughter's Keeper with enough intelligence, tenderness and craft to shape outrage into a story that is both moving and enthralling." --Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and You Shall Know Our Velocity!

"Ayelet Waldman has brought the war on drugs home, and has shown us just how close to home it can come....She looks past headlines and into the heart. What she finds there is hope for us all." --Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina

Editorial Reviews

Waldman, author of the Mommy Track mystery series, here takes a more serious tack, telling the story of a young woman who battles the American legal system's inflexible drug laws. Olivia Goodman, a rebellious 22-year-old, dropped out of college as a sophomore and headed for Mexico. After she moved back to her hometown of Oakland, Calif., she was followed by Jorge Luis Rodriguez Hernandez, with whom she had a brief affair in Mexico. Jorge crossed the border illegally and is unable to find work, and Olivia feels obligated to support him. Desperate for money, Jorge is persuaded to participate in a drug deal, and Olivia's vague complicity sweeps her into an intense legal battle when she is arrested with Jorge. To make matters worse, Olivia discovers she's pregnant with Jorge's baby. As Olivia fights for her freedom, her mother, Elaine Goodman, is doubly tormented. Elaine raised Olivia on her own, but never felt she could love her enough. Now, when she has finally found happiness with a man, she is forced to choose between helping her daughter and holding on to her fiance. Waldman takes a somewhat didactic approach-U.S. drug laws are discussed at length, and the story of Elaine and Olivia's relationship can read like a case history-but Waldman's passion and affection for her characters shines through. (Oct.) Forecast: A 50,000 first printing and eight-city author tour might seem ambitious for this rather modest novel by Waldman (who is married to Michael Chabon), but the book comes festooned with an impressive array of blurbs (from Glen David Gold, Dave Eggers, Dorothy Allison and Amy Tan, among others). Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Author Information

Bio of Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman's first mystery novel, "Nursery Crimes," was culled from her life as a former public defender and stay-at-home mother. Three books into the series finds the author and her character, Juliet Applebaum, facing new challenges. In "A Playdate With Death," Waldman writes about issues outside of her experience, including adoptive children's rights and Tay-Sachs, a fatal genetic disorder that often affects Jewish families. "I hope that I'm getting better with each one, that I'm learning more about the craft," she says during a recent visit to Pittsburgh to promote the third installment of her Mommy-Track mystery series. When Waldman, the wife of novelist Michael Chabon, published her first book, her writing experience was limited to legal briefs and filings. She had never published a short story or poem, let alone a novel, but was looking for a challenge to replace her career as a public defender in Los Angeles. Thus, Juliet Applebaum was born, a feisty ex-public defender with an insatiable thirst for setting the record straight. In "Playdate," Applebaum investigates the death of her fitness trainer, Bobby Katz, who is found dead in his car on the Pacific Coast Highway, a gun in his hand and a bullet in his head. The death is ruled a suicide, but Applebaum, at the request of Katz's girlfriend, finds evidence to the contrary.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Sourcebooks Landmark

Filesize

1.62 MB

Number of Pages

368

eBook ISBN

9781402224966

Awards

• ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards
• Independent Publisher Book Awards ( IPPYs )