Robert and Lynn Ferguson are a picture-perfect couple with two beautiful daughters and a lovely home in an exclusive Connecticut community. Robert is on the fast track of a major corporation. Lynn is devoted to her family and good works. But in the Ferguson's closed doors hide a painful secret Lynn must keep from the world-and her children-at any cost... Not even the Fergusons's best friends, Josie and Bruce Lehman, know of Lynn's shame. Social worker Josie sees her bruises distrusts the too-ambitious, too perfect Robert, and suspects the real cause of the children's increasingly disturbed behavior. But not even Josie can pierce Lynn's wall of silence, a wall that will not crumble until Lynn is forced to face herself-and the truth-at last. Belva Plain's searing novel of a family's heartbreak, a woman's courage, and a subject too often talked about only in whispers.
As in her latest bestselling novel Treasures, Plain tells an engrossing tale of a contemporary family and the realities that lie below the surface of their perfect lives. A woman is unable to admit to anyone, much to herself, that her idyllic life is based on a lie. She struggles to free herself from a cycle of violence, contrition, and more violence--and finally emerges in triumph.
Belva Plain captured readers' hearts with her first novel, Evergreen, which Delacorte published more than 30 years ago. It topped the New York Times best-seller list for 41 weeks and aired as an NBC-TV miniseries. In total, more than 20 of her books have been New York Times best sellers.
Before becoming a novelist, Belva Plain wrote short stories for many major magazines, but taking care of a husband and three children did not give her the time to concentrate on the novel she had always wanted to write. When she looked back and said she didn't have the time, she felt as though she had been making excuses. In retrospect, she said, "I didn't make the time." But, she reminded us, during the era that she was raising her family, women were supposed to concentrate only on their children. Today 30 million copies of her books are in print.
A Barnard College graduate who majored in history, Belva Plain enjoyed a wonderful marriage of more than 40 years to Irving Plain, an ophthalmologist. Widowed for more than 25 years, Ms. Plain continued to reside in New Jersey, where she and her husband had raised their family and which was still home to her nearby children and grandchildren until her death in October 2010.
Before she became a novelist, Belva Plain wrote short stories for many major magazines (she sold her first story to Cosmopolitan), but taking care of a husband and three children did not give her the time to concentrate on the novel she always wanted to write. In retrospect, she said, "I didn't make the time." Now, with well over 25 million copies of her books in print, translated into 22 languages, her fans can be grateful she demonstrated a better-late-than-never attitude.
A Barnard College graduate who majored in history, Belva Plain enjoyed a wonderful marriage of more than 40 years to Irving Plain, an ophthalmologist, who died in 1982. She lived most of her life in New Jersey where she and her husband raised their family. Belva Plain died at her home in October 2010. She was 95.
Author biography courtesy of Random House, Inc.
When she wasn't writing, Plain enjoyed opera, ballet, nature, history, dogs, and reading.
bananagailie
Posted February 23, 2009
As always another well plotted and well written treasure by Belva Plain. Anyone who has ever been in the main characters shoes will understand this book very well and thereby have a better understanding of themselves. Well worth the reading !!!
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Posted December 9, 2007
easy to follow, finished it in two days.
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Posted September 12, 2002
This book is AMAZING.......I have yet to read a book that can surpass it....Belva Plain is a very gifted author. I garuntee you will not be disappointed when you read this novel.
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Posted March 30, 2001
This book is absolutely wonderful. One that I couldn't put down. It also is an easy read due to the fact that there are not a lot of characters but a lot of action.
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Posted February 11, 2001
Belva Plain at her best with this X-TRODUNARY book. A story which can happen to anyone...whether they like it or not...
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Posted January 3, 2009
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Posted December 29, 2010
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Overview
Robert and Lynn Ferguson are a picture-perfect couple with two beautiful daughters and a lovely home in an exclusive Connecticut community. Robert is on the fast track of a major corporation. Lynn is devoted to her family and good works. But in the Ferguson's closed doors hide a painful secret Lynn must keep from the world-and her children-at any cost... Not even the Fergusons's best friends, Josie and Bruce Lehman, know of ...