Today I am reviewing The Daughter by Jane Shemilt for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
About the book (from the publisher): Jenny is a successful family doctor, the mother of three great teenagers, married to a successful neurosurgeon.
But when her youngest child, fifteen year old Naomi, doesn’t come home after her school play, Jenny’s seemingly ideal life begins to crumble. The authorities launch a nationwide search with no success. Naomi has vanished, and her family is broken.
As the months pass, the worst-case scenarios – kidnapping, murder – seem less plausible. The trail has gone cold. Yet, for a desperate Jenny, the search has barely begun. More than a year after her daughter’s disappearance, she’s still digging for answers – and what she finds disturbs her. Everyone she’s trusted, everyone she’s thought she knew, has been keeping secrets, especially Naomi. Piecing together the traces her daughter left behind, Jenny discovers a very different Naomi from the girl she thought she’d raised.
Jenny knows she will never be able to find Naomi unless she discovers the whole truth about her daughter, a twisting, painful journey into the past that will lead to an almost unthinkable revelation.
My review: Secrets. They are the theme running throughout this beautifully written novel. The secrets we all hold; some relatively harmless, others much more dark in their import. Jenny, the protagonist, seems to successfully juggle the demands of her career with the demands of raising three teenagers. When her adored daughter disappears, nothing is the same as it was and the truths that are uncovered are shattering. She discovers that everyone – her husband, her twin sons, her daughter – has been keeping certain aspects of their lives secret.
What happens when those secrets are uncovered? How does one’s world change? How do we cope with the fact that we didn’t know our loved ones as well as we thought we did? How could we not know? The world tilts on its axis and we are forever changed.
Shemilt is a very fine writer. I found the story riveting. Told from Jenny’s point-of-view, it is lyrical and brutally honest at the same time. At the beginning of the book, Shemilt holds an onion out to us, beautiful and whole and seemingly complete. As the story progresses, the onion’s layers are systematically uncovered, each layer a secret that has to be peeled away in order to reveal another painful truth. The author skillfully takes us along for the ride, as Jenny searches for her daughter and faces the reality that the world she knew was merely the outermost layer of the onion.
This is also the story of the love a mother has for her children and of her commitment to them, a commitment that is sometimes resented by those she would protect, sometimes misguided, but always fierce in its single-minded devotion. Anyone who has ever loved and lost, or has learned that a loved one is not the person they appeared to be, will identify with Jenny’s struggle. I’ve been there. I know how it feels and I’ve asked the same questions of myself. How did I not know, how can this person I’ve known since the day he/she was born be so completely different than I thought? Was it all a lie?
It’s a mystery, a love story, and a cautionary tale. You will love this book.
About the author: While working full-time as a physician, Jane Shemilt received a M.A. in creative writing. She was shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbit award and the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize for The Daughter, her first novel. She and her husband, a professor of neurosurgery, have five children and live in Bristol, England.
Good news! One of you will be the lucky winner of a copy of The Daughter. Just leave a comment here on this post, and I will pick a winner on Monday. Good luck! U.S. readers only.
Happy Thursday.
Thank you for the great book review. Your analogy of the onion is brilliant. As a constant reader, it gives me great joy to read another reader’s analysis.
Ooooh, Claudia, this sounds like a good one. Fingers crossed that I will win it!
This does sound like a fabulous read! and such a beautifully written review!
Sounds very interesting. I’m always looking for new authors, so I’d love to win this one.
This sounds great Claudia! Thanks for the chance…fingers crossed my name is picked.
I know too well when those you have known for oh so long are not what you thought. I’d love to read this! Thanks Claudia!
Being a mother of 5, this sounds interesting. Secrets among families is intriguing. Upon the death of my mother, we found out about a huge secret that had been kept for generations. This sounds
like a good read.
I must read it. :-)
Regula
Hi Claudia – back for a short time before heading to England so have had little reading time unfortunately. I did pick up very interesting book in Hungary though about the Gypsies around the world who are of course a culture unto themselves – very, very interesting! Problem now is I’m asleep in my pillows after a few pages – just can’t stay awake for long!
This book you have reviewed sounds interesting.
Hope life is good up north – I’m sure Spring is beautiful by now.
Hugs – Mary
Claudia, this sounds like my kind of book. I will add it to my list to read for sure! Your review is right on target as always.
Linda
Please, please pick me! This book sounds amazing! I need something new to escape from my boring reality.
Deanna
Oh, you’ve piqued my interest. I’m going to have to read it.
Another one to add to the reading list.
Sounds like a great book.
O, this sounds like my kind of read. Intrigue , medicine, relationships,……..thanks for sharing about this.
Your blog is fairly new to me and I find myself looking forward to what you have to share.
This one sounds amazing! Great review. I have added it to my TBR list!!
Another good on to add to my growing “must read” list. Thanks for another interesting review.
Excellent review Claudia. You left me wanting to know more.
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
This sounds very interesting. I love books where the layers are peeled back. Pick me, please.
Your review has my interest peaked, so I may have to get this book. You have a great way of reviewing the book in an interesting way that doesn’t give too much information!
I’d love to read this book! If I win I can take it on vacation and indulge!
Oh my, my reading list grows every day. You’ve given me many authors to try, and I haven’t been disappointed. This book sounds intriguing; I must read it.
Oooh, I would love to win this book!
I want to ask you something, though, too. We have been watching old reruns of Frasier ( we love it). Did Don ever do any of the Frasier episodes? I just knew it was him the other night. His hair was dark! In the episode, Fraser had rented an office next to Niles and was going to start seeing some patients. He was observing a group therapy session in Niles’ office, and Don was one of the patients. The brothers started arguing so much that the group got up and left. Tell me if I’m crazy and imagined that it was Don!! Myra
You’re not crazy! It was Don.
I would love to read this book.
Thanks
Linda
I enjoy this genre so! If I don’t win, it is going in my TBR pile for sure. Thanks for the review and contest.
I would love to read this book! You have introduced me to so many wonderful books. I am currently reading the Louise Penny books (am on the fourth one in the series). Thank you for taking the time to do these reviews.
Lorinda
Sounds like the perfect summer read!
Sounds like this one is a “can’t put it down” book..I’ll be reading it whether I win or not….
Sounds like a great read! I have added it to my Amazon wish list. Thanks, Claudia
This sounds like a good summer read!
interesting review. hope I win, but if not, I’ve got another book for my library list.
I’m looking for a great summer read. This one sounds intriguing. Thanks for reviewing Claudia!
Have not heard of this author or book but the book sounds wonderful. Would love to read it. Thanks for the opportunity to enter the giveaway! (shirparks@gmail.com)
I just picked up a novel by Elizabeth Haynes on your recommendation~looking forward to a good escape!
This one sounds good, too! So many books to read-so little time!
Your review makes me want to read it. If not here, I will order from my library. Have a great day.
Wow, you’ve definitely peaked my interest in this book! Here’s my entry … pick me, pick me! :)
This does sound like another good book!
Your review really has me interested in this book.!
Just told my self that I need to read some this summer. Would love to start with this book! Thanks Claudia!
This sounds like an intelligent read-thanks for the review.
I would love to read this book!
Sounds like a good read. I would love to win a copy.
Stacy L.
Hi! I’m new to your site. A friend told me about your blog and I love it! I’m am an avid reader and I’m always in search for another good book. I have “The Daughter” on my wish list but after your review I’m “hot” to read it now. I love all things British, good mysteries and dysfunctional family stories, This book sounds like a perfect fit for me. Hope I win it!
Oh, this sounds like a good one, Claudia!
I’ll be buying this one for sure if you don’t pick me! It sounds quite good!
Another great review, Claudia. I would love to read this book. Thank you for the opportunity.
I’m looking for good summer reads, I will have to add this to my list!
Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! This sounds like a real winner
jane-in-tx
Another one to add to my insanely long list! Thanks for the chance!
Sounds like a book I would love to read.