The Lost Daughter

( 10 )

Overview

Brooke O'Connor—elegant, self-possessed, and kind—has a happy marriage and a deeply loved young daughter. So her adamant refusal to have a second child confounds her husband, Sean. When Brooke's high school boyfriend Alex—now divorced and mourning the death of his young son—unexpectedly resurfaces, Sean begins to suspect an affair.

For fifteen years Brooke has kept a shameful secret from everyone she loves. Only Alex knows the truth that drove them apart. His reappearance now ...

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The Lost Daughter

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More About This Book

Overview

Brooke O'Connor—elegant, self-possessed, and kind—has a happy marriage and a deeply loved young daughter. So her adamant refusal to have a second child confounds her husband, Sean. When Brooke's high school boyfriend Alex—now divorced and mourning the death of his young son—unexpectedly resurfaces, Sean begins to suspect an affair.

For fifteen years Brooke has kept a shameful secret from everyone she loves. Only Alex knows the truth that drove them apart. His reappearance now threatens the life she has so carefully constructed and fortified by denial. With her marriage—and her emotional equilibrium—at stake, Brooke must confront what she has been unwilling to face for so long.

But the truth is not what Brooke believes it to be. Lucy Ferriss's haunting novel reveals the profound ways in which remorse over the past can not only derail lives but also—sometimes—redeem them.

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Editorial Reviews

Oscar Hijuelos

"One of the best writers around."
Mary-Ann Tirone Smith

"A tension-filled, beautifully written story."
Eric Goodman

"A moving tale of sin and redeptmion, motherhood and second chances."
Wally Lamb

“From its harrowing prologue to its final sentences, I was emotionally engaged.”
Tom Perotta

“A complex, engaging novel about guilt, secrecy, and the mysteries of family…a courageous and thought-provoking writer.”
The RT Book Reviews Magazine
Ferriss' latest is a deeply emotional book with lyrical writing. It is a modern story with deep underlayers, making it more meaningful than just a light read. The characters, deeply flawed but very human, draw you in.

They're making choices blindly, since they never can see the future clearly, and then they must live with the results as they come.

Kirkus Reviews
A child left for dead at birth reappears 15 years later to transform the lives of her parents. The opening pages of Ferriss' sixth novel (Leaving the Neighborhood, 2001, etc.) are a harrowing overture to a book that's soaked with domestic tension. In 1993, Brooke and her boyfriend, Alex, enter a motel to deliver what the high-schoolers are certain will be a stillbirth; the teas prescribed by a hippie-ish family friend of Brooke's were supposed to ensure that. The first chapter's visceral depiction of the delivery signals that Ferriss intends to deliver an unflinching study of parenthood, and though the book is overlong and takes some sentimental turns, she largely follows through on that promise. Fifteen years later, Brooke has married another man, Sean, with whom she has a daughter, and their life is outwardly cozy. But Sean's job at a print shop is foundering and she's batting away his pleas for another child. As Sean drowns his anger in drink, Brooke reconnects with Alex, who can't stop hating himself over their parental misadventure. After a series of revelations, the two discover that their child is alive: Alex left her breathing in a crate near the motel's dumpster, where she was taken in by a working-class Polish-immigrant family. The girl, Najda, has a severe physical disability but is whip-smart; among the novel's sharpest chapters are those she narrates, full of close observations of her dysfunctional adoptive family and guilt-wracked biological one. Ferriss' main message is that the truth will always come out, and she often gives this fairly preposterous scenario a convincing, Franzen-style realism. That skill is undercut slightly by a second message that dreams do come true; Ferriss is no Pollyanna, but she ties the bow in ways that feel more comforting than sincere. Despite some too-convenient plot twists, a powerful domestic novel.
Booklist
Booklist
Ferriss moves the plot along at a fast clip, deftly weaving together recollections of the past and, as the disturbing truth of Brooke's secret slowly emerges, the present. All the while, Ferriss infuses the story with a heady dose of realism. Financial crisis looms as businesses close, workers get laid off, and consultants are brought in to "streamline." Lost Daughter manages to be a romantic family novel with a palpable atmosphere of impending calamity. Sure, there's a happy ending, but that doesn't mean everything's right in the world.
From the Publisher

"A powerful domestic novel." ---Kirkus
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425245569
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 2/7/2012
  • Pages: 400
  • Sales rank: 427,129
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author


Lucy Ferriss is the author of several books, including the novels Against Gravity, The Misconceiver, and Nerves of the Heart, which was a finalist in the Peter Taylor Prize competition. Her memoir Unveiling the Prophet: The Misadventures of a Reluctant Debutante was named Best Book of the Year by the Riverfront Times and her collection Leaving the Neighborhood and Other Stories was the 2000 winner of the Mid-List First Series Award. Other short fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Missouri Review, Shenandoah, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Georgia Review, and have received recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Faulkner Society, the Fulbright Commission, and the George Bennett Fund, among others. Lucy received her Ph.D. from Tufts University and currently lives in the Berkshires and in Connecticut, where she is Writer-in-Residence at Trinity College. Cassandra Campbell has recorded nearly two hundred audiobooks and directed many more. She has been nominated for and won multiple Audie Awards, as well as the prestigious Odyssey Award. She has received numerous starred audio reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal as well as fourteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. Cassandra was also named a Best Voice by AudioFile for 2009 and 2010.
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 10 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(2)

4 Star

(5)

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Sort by: Showing all of 10 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 21, 2012

    What a page-turner!

    I feel as if I held me breath from the first page until the end of this heart-warming and heart-wrenching novel. A pair of teenagers botch an accidental pregnancy ... But that's just the beginning. The real story lies in what happens to their lives - all three of their lives, because the baby left for dead survives despite the damage done at birth. I came to love all these yearning, struggling characters, because Ferriss writes about them with so much understanding and grace. You find yourself pulling for them, especially for the lost daughter of the title, who also learns to forgive, and to love. Highly recommended.

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted June 11, 2012

    The emotions in this novel tugged at my heart from the very first page.

    While in high school Brooke finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Alex, her high school sweetheart, finds himself in the horrible place of having to deliver prematurely the baby in a seedy hotel room. Having hidden the pregnancy no one realizes that they just dispose of the newborn.

    Fifteen years later, Brooke is married and has a daughter with her husband, Sean. Alex is recently divorced after suffering the death of his young son. Neither Alex nor Brooke have shared the burden of their secret with anyone else in the lives. His reappearance in her life has begun to threaten her current life. Brooke and Alex must not confront what they have been unable to face. While searching for the truth Brooke finds what she believed to have happen to not be the whole truth. In finding the truth, Brooke and Alex both find the strength to move forward with their lives and find the happiness they both have denied themselves.

    The emotions in this novel tugged at my heart from the very first page. The relationships between all the characters were very painful and felt extremely real. I felt myself being pulled deeper and deeper in Brooke and Sean’s family problems. Feeling Brookes fear and pain as she searches for the truth of what happen to her baby that horrible night in the hotel and her fear in how her husband and family will react to knowing what happen. The Lost Daughter is amazing. Such sensitive subjects being brought up so tastefully and carefully. If you enjoy and great read with a deep and beautifully written story this is a book for you.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 20, 2013

    Interesting story - I enjoyed it.

    This is a quick read sort of book - good story line - some really good characters. I would recommend it to friends.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 6, 2013

    Interesting read!

    I enjoyed this book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 28, 2012

    Okay

    The idea behind the story was good. But hthe people didn't seem real to me. Found myself skimming alot towards the end.

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  • Posted June 3, 2012

    Poorly written. contrived and at times the plot was just prepost

    Poorly written. contrived and at times the plot was just preposterous. Don't waste your time with this one

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 13, 2013

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    Posted May 29, 2012

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 12, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 9, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

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