Book picks similar to
The Broken String by Diane Chamberlain


diane-chamberlain
fiction
short-stories
ebook

The Sixth Wedding


Elin Hilderbrand - 2021
    A sequel to 28 Summers – Jake McCloud returns to Nantucket for Labor Day weekend 2023, this time without Mallory.

The Quaker Café


Brenda Bevan Remmes - 2014
    Twenty-five years later, she still feels like she’s falling short of expectations. Fortunately, her faith and her friends in the small, rural North Carolina town of Cedar Branch keep her strong.After her best friend’s politically powerful father dies, Liz stumbles upon secrets from the past that threaten to unravel the current harmony in Cedar Branch, a town with a history of racial tension. As she researches more and eavesdrops on gossip at the Quaker Café, where everyone meets each morning, Liz soon discovers the truth about an injustice that she cannot reveal to anyone—not even her husband.Surrounded by a cast of richly drawn Southern characters, Liz learns that even good people can make bad choices. Now, she must decide whether she has the strength to bring a past wrong to light, despite the consequences. This is a new release of a previously published edition.

Memories in the Drift


Melissa Payne - 2020
    I’m thirty-six years old. It’s September. I know what I’m doing and why I am here…for now.Ten years ago, Claire Hines lost her unborn child—and her short-term memory—following a heartrending tragedy. With notebooks, calendars, to-do lists, fractured pieces of the past, and her father’s support, Claire makes it through each day, hour by hour, with relative confidence. She also has a close-knit community of friends in the remote Alaskan town where she teaches guitar to the local children. It’s there, in the reminders.As determined as Claire is to regain all that’s disappeared, she’d prefer to live without some memories of her before life—especially those of her mother, Alice, who abandoned her, and Tate, the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart.But when Alice and Tate return from the past, there’ll be so much more for Claire to relive. And to discover for the very first time. Through healing, forgiveness, and second chances, Claire may realize that what’s most important might not be re-creating the person she was, but embracing the possibilities of being the person she is.

The Memory Child


Steena Holmes - 2014
    He's been patiently waiting for twelve years to become a father. But Diane has always been nervous about having children because of her family's dark past. The timing of the pregnancy also isn't ideal - Diane has just been promoted, and Brian is being called away to open a new London office for his company. Fast-forward one year: being a mother has brought Diane a sense of joy that she'd never imagined and she's head over heels for her new baby, Grace. But things are far from perfect: Brian has still not returned from London, and Diane fears leaving the baby for even a moment. As unsettling changes in those around Diane began to emerge, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. A woman's dark past collides head-on with her mysterious present in this surreal and gripping family drama.

The Library of Lost and Found


Phaedra Patrick - 2019
    She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she's invisible.All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend - her grandmother Zelda - who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda's past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.Filled with Phaedra Patrick's signature charm and vivid characters, The Library of Lost and Found is a heartwarming and poignant tale of how one woman must take control of her destiny to write her own happy ending.

Love in the Afternoon


Karen Hawkins - 2019
    Can the three of them, with a little help from the charmed town of Dove Pond (and a pesky ghost), turn a nightmare into a fairytale and forge their own happily ever after?Young widow Sofia Rodriquez has just accepted the position of greenhouse manager for Ava Dove’s booming herbal tea business. Sofia is delighted to have found a job that will make use of her gardening skills and allow her to spend time with her son, Noah, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s. Adding to her joy is the charming farmhouse she’s renting on the edge of Dove Pond. The only cloud on Sofia’s horizon is her next door neighbor, Jake, whose yard is a thorny jungle worthy of Sleeping Beauty. Soon enough, Sofia discovers that Jake himself is just as thorny and unpleasant as his yard. After his fiancée left him, work-from-home IT whiz and game developer Jake Klaine has gone from Prince Charming to complete hermit. But Jake isn’t really alone; he’s living with a ghost: a (formerly) hairy man named Doyle who’s a fan of bad puns and who refuses to leave Jake’s bathtub. This is nothing new for Jake, as he’s been talking to ghosts since he was a boy. He finds real people harder to deal with, like the kid next door who won’t stop bugging him about the new game he’s developing. Sofia and Jake know all too well that life isn’t a game. They’ve both lost the person they loved most. But under the watchful eye of the ghostly Doyle and Sofia’s new friend Ava, who has abilities of her own, Jake and Sofia decide to take a chance and let in an outsider. Soon they discover that, with a little magic, even the thorniest walls are no match for the innocent trust of a lonely child and the fierce determination of a woman wielding a razor-sharp pruner and a heart big enough to make even the most stubborn flower bloom.

Thought I Knew You


Kate Moretti - 2012
    Her best friend Drew helps her look for answers, but all she finds are troubling questions.With every clue, she discovers that Greg may not be the man she thought she married.While battling her growing feelings for Drew and raising her two young children, Claire must learn to live with the knowledge that the truth behind Greg’s disappearance may never be revealed.

The Pieces We Keep


Kristina McMorris - 2013
    . . Two years have done little to ease veterinarian Audra Hughes's grief over her husband's untimely death. Eager for a fresh start, Audra plans to leave Portland for a new job in Philadelphia. Her seven-year-old son, Jack, seems apprehensive about flying--but it's just the beginning of an anxiety that grows to consume him.As Jack's fears continue to surface in recurring and violent nightmares, Audra hardly recognizes the introverted boy he has become. Desperate, she traces snippets of information unearthed in Jack's dreams, leading her to Sean Malloy, a struggling US Army veteran wounded in Afghanistan. Together they unravel a mystery dating back to World War II, and uncover old family secrets that still have the strength to wound--and perhaps, at last, to heal.Intricate and beautifully written, The Pieces We Keep illuminates those moments when life asks us to reach beyond what we know and embrace what was once unthinkable. Deftly weaving together past and present, herein lies a story that is at once poignant and thought-provoking, and as unpredictable as the human heart. "An expertly woven and richly satisfying work of historical fiction that will touch any reader who has experienced love, loss, tragedy, or the impact of family secrets." --The Boston Globe

Together Apart


Natalie K. Martin - 2014
    But Sarah has a secret - and she's willing to sacrifice everything to keep it. Going through a break-up is hard enough but having to live together afterwards is even worse, especially when it's a break-up neither person wants. For Adam, there are only three ways to deal with it: sex, drugs and alcohol. For Sarah, its keeping her distance and closely guarding the lengths she's gone to in order to keep her secret safe for the past fifteen years. And she succeeds until Adam finds a box of her teenage diaries. Against a backdrop of lies, secrecy, passion and teenage rebellion, the delicate threads holding Sarah's secret begin to unravel and when her first love is brutally murdered, her past and present collide in a way that makes it impossible to keep them apart. Adam thought he knew everything about Sarah. He was wrong. Romantic, intense and heart-breaking, Together Apart is a contemporary love story exploring what it really means to love and be loved. "I was hooked from page one ..." HarperCollins Authonomy Editor #1 read and Editor's Desk Winner on HarperCollins' Authonomy

The Truth About You


Melissa Hill - 2010
    But has an ill-advised fling with a handsome co-star resulted in a seriously unplanned consequence?Jess feels increasingly left out as the only non-mum amongst her friends. Terrified she might lose them altogether, she embarks on becoming a mother too. But is she really ready?Nina has come to Lakeview to live with her estranged father, Patrick after a bad break-up. But will she ever dare tell him about the secret she is concealing?One thing's for sure: someone knows more than they're telling. And the truth won't stay hidden forever...

Spring Fever


Mary Kay Andrews - 2012
    They've been divorced for four years, she's engaged to a terrific new guy, and she's ready to leave the small North Carolina town where she and Mason had so much history. She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding. But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe this happened for a reason. And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back...Second chances But there are secrets afoot in this small Southern town, and soon Annajane discovers that change can bring out the worst in people-even her own friends and neighbors-and uncover family scandals. Happiness could be hers for the taking...and the life she once had with Mason could be in her future. But first Annajane must find out what she's really made of, and what really matters most."A winsome love story and compelling family drama; an idyllic small-town setting and surprising twists and turns."-Booklist

What Was Mine


Helen Klein Ross - 2016
    It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends. When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood. Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping. What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment.

Muddy Bottom


Ashley Farley - 2020
    Her husband has mysteriously disappeared, leaving Birdie to cope with their unmarried daughter’s unplanned pregnancy. Birdie and Hannah disagree about the baby. Birdie urges her daughter to consider abortion, but Hannah is determined to see the pregnancy to term. When Hannah returns for her last semester in college, Birdie must face her demons, the problems in her marriage that drove her husband to clean out their bank accounts and run off with another woman.While struggling to hide her pregnancy from her roommates and ex-boyfriend, Hannah interviews for jobs that will take her and her baby far away from her mother. After graduation, with months to kill before the start of her new job, she returns to Palmetto Island for the summer to await the birth of her baby. Tension mounts between Hannah and Birdie when they move from their waterfront home to a two-bedroom apartment above a bakery. Can mother and daughter mend their relationship? Or will they be lost to each other forever?

Postcards From a Stranger


Imogen Clark - 2017
    But who can tell her the truth? With her father sinking into Alzheimer’s and her brother reluctant to help, it seems Cara will never find the answers to her questions. One thing is clear, though: someone knows more than they’re letting on.Torn between loyalty to her family and dread of what she might find, Cara digs into the early years of her parents’ troubled marriage, hunting down long-lost relatives who might help unravel the mystery. But the picture that begins to emerge is not at all the one she’d expected—because as she soon discovers, lies have a habit of multiplying . . . Revised edition: This edition of Postcards from a Stranger includes editorial revisions.

Big Little Lies


Liane Moriarty - 2014
    She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.