Title: The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HarlequinMIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Literary, Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+
Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
A beloved daughter. A devastating choice. And now there’s no going back.
Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he’s never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe.
But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he’s worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble….
Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.
With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter’s sake.
Even if it means he might lose her.
The Review:
In The Good Father Diane Chamberlain brilliantly illustrates how far parents are willing to go to protect their children. Through the various characters’ stories, we see the different reasons for the decisions they make in their effort to make better lives for their children. But are they always the right decisions? And equally important, do parents always know best?
For Travis Brown, the decision to raise his daughter Bella as a single father is easy. His love for Bella is absolute, but an unexpected loss leaves him wondering if he made the right choice. Homeless and jobless, he makes a decision that has potentially devastating consequences.
For Bella’s mother, Robin Saville, it is her father’s decisions that change the outcome of her life. In an effort to protect his daughter’s health, he interferes in her life in unimaginable ways. Current events in her life bring the past to the forefront of her mind as she struggles to find her identity.
For Erin Patterson, a chance meeting with Travis and Bella allows her to put the tragic events of her own life into perspective. Through helping Travis, many of her wounds are healed and she is finally able to reconcile her painful past and move on with her life. It is her decisions that brings The Good Father to its suspenseful conclusion.
The Good Father provides wonderful insight into how someone can easily end up on the wrong path for the right reasons. It also teaches a very valuable lesson about how destructive parental interference can be when decisions are made based on what is best for the family, not the child. It is a powerful learning experience in how the best intentions can go horribly wrong.
The Good Father is an engrossing novel with a beautifully developed cast of appealing characters. The plot is unique and quite thought-provoking. Diane Chamberlain is a gifted storyteller with an engaging writing style that instantly catches and easily maintains her readers’ attention. An absolutely breathtaking account that demonstrates a parents’ unconditional love, The Good Father is a novel that should be on everyone’s reading list.
