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The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

October 2018
Women’s fiction

I received this digital ARC from NetGalley and St.Martins Press in exchange for an unbiased review.

This author has always been on my TBR list but didn’t have the opportunity until now to review her latest novel.

Although the story is presented with alternate narrators in different time periods it feels as if it is occurring simultaneously. The concept of time travel is used in this book as a unique means of exploring ethical dilemmas.

It was April of 1965 when Caroline Sears, a physical therapy student intern, meets Hunter Poole, a difficult depressed patient at rehab in Chapel Hill, NC. Carly seems to be the only one with whom Hunter connects after falling from a 3-story building who can assist with his recovery.

Jump forward to Naggs Head, NC in April of 1970 where Hunter is now married to Carly’s sister, Patti and a 1 year old son, John Paul. At this time Carly finds herself a widow with her precious husband Joe a casualty of the Vietnam War. Carly never had the chance to inform him of her pregnancy before he died. At 24 weeks pregnant it is discovered that the baby has an irregular heartbeat where she is referred to National Institute of Health (NIH) in Maryland for a fetal ultrasound study.

When the results of the study prove fatal for the baby, Hunter decides he needs to share his secret with Carly in order to save her baby. There are many twists and unexpected discoveries as Carly experiences the world in ways she dreamed possible. Her only goal is to save baby Joanna with a life saving surgery that hasn’t been invented!

Through time travel issues of the past and future are analyzed with a new lens. Is it acceptable to disturb the present with knowledge of the future knowing it would alter the present? Likewise, is it ever wise to alter the course of history once it has been set in motion? It becomes imminently obvious how the slightest changes can alter the ultimate outcome in time.