Daughters for a Time [Kindle Edition]

Jennifer Handford (Author)

Book Description

When Helen Francis was a child, her mother died and her father walked out, leaving her to be raised by her older sister. Now thirty-five, married, and trying to start a family of her own, Helen has moved on but never really healed from her traumatic childhood. She has always believed that a new baby would help fill the loss of what was taken from her at such a young age. After four years of trying to become pregnant, however, she is resigned to the fact that she will never be able to bear children. Halfheartedly accepting adoption as an alternative, Helen gradually embraces and grows excited over the prospect. And when her new baby is finally in her arms, true happiness washes over her. But her unimaginable bliss is dashed when she learns that Claire, the sister who raised and loved her throughout her childhood and adult life, has been diagnosed with cancer.

For Helen, the pain of her childhood returns and the old wounds of abandonment are once again torn open. Balancing the joy of her new daughter with the painful experience of watching her sister, the physical embodiment of unconditional love in her life, slowly die, Helen must reconcile her inner feelings and heal her broken spirit. A heart-wrenching exploration of the ties that bind us and the lasting pain of childhood loss,Daughters for a Time is about longing for a family to heal a broken heart, experiencing unconditional love as a parent, and finding solid ground to stand on when suffering and elation have equally powerful holds on our life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

“A wrenching, resonant debut about infertility, cancer and adoption. Grab your hankies.”
--People magazine

"Equally heartfelt and hopeful, Daughters for a Time is a powerful exploration of what it means to be a mother, a sister, a daughter. Tender and poignant, Handford weaves a captivatingly honest story that will have you smiling and weeping throughout -- often within the same paragraph." --Heather Gudenkauf - New York Times Best-selling Author of The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden

"Daughters for a Time is a brutally honest but captivating peek at the powerful hold human connections and the pursuit of motherhood can have on the human spirit….A story filled with the truths of compassion, dedication and losses many of us must face in life... [It] will draw you in and have you rooting for [protagonist] Helen Francis." --Kay Bratt, Author of Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage

About the Author

Jennifer Handford was born in Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived until she moved to Oregon for college and graduate school. After graduation, she moved to Washington, D.C., and has lived in the Virginia/Washington, D.C., area for fifteen years. Jennifer is married and has three daughters. Daughters for a Time was awarded one of three first place prizes in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. It is her first novel.

Product Details

• File Size: 437 KB
• Print Length: 287 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1612182925
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing (April 24, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006JTTH0U
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,366 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #20 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Drama > United States
  • #20 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Sisters
  • #23 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Mothers & Children

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely book about forgiveness, hope & devotion April 24, 2012

By Stephanie C.

Format:Paperback

When I received the pitch from the publisher for Daughters for a Time, I just knew that I had to read this book. Both the author and I have daughters and both of us came to motherhood by two different methods - we each have a biological daughter AND a daughter adopted from China (in fact, she has three girls, but I'm not sure whether her third child is adopted or not). The book also deals with a cancer diagnosis (which I am all too familiar with, being a breast cancer survivor myself). Needless to say, this book called to me in various ways.

The story is about Helen, a thirty five year old woman married to Tim and desperate to start a family, but unable to conceive a child. In addition, she is still dealing with her own abandonment issues, having lost her mother to cancer when she was a teenager. Her own father, unable to deal with his crumbling marriage and ailing wife, walks out on Helen and her older sister Claire during this most crucial time. Claire took care of Helen after their mother's death and now lives close by with a husband and daughter of her own.

After years of infertility, Helen comes to terms with the idea of adoption and her and Tim are off on the adventure of a lifetime. She has also been in contact with her father, hoping that he will be able to play a part in her new daughter's life. After coming home with their new daughter, Helen is hit with a devastating blow - the same cancer that stole their mother has now been diagnosed in her own sister. How can Helen enjoy her feelings of elation after finally becoming a mother, only to have to deal with such terrible news about Claire?

Daughters for a Time by Jennifer Handford is a lovely book about forgiveness, hope and devotion. I very much enjoyed the relationship between Helen and Claire, two people with very different personalities but who obviously love each other as only siblings can do. I also really liked the plot line about Helen trying to make a connection with her father who abandoned them so long ago. He is remorseful for the choices he made so many years prior and it is a nice story-line seeing how he tries to make up for the past by being in the present.

Also, if you are planning to adopt from China or have already done so, you would very much enjoy the chapters which follows Helen and her husband Tim in China at the moment they meet their daughter Sam. This part of the book was very true to the whole Chinese adoption proccess and reminded me of that life altering trip my husband, oldest daughter and I took over five years ago to adopt our daughter Maya.

Daughters for a Time was a highly enjoyable, albeit heart-wrenching book that I very much enjoyed.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Get out the Kleenex! May 12, 2012

By Judith Paley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As I read the opening page, I groaned inwardly...another whiny woman book. Within a couple of more pages I thought "but this whiny woman book is wonderfully written." And shortly thereafter, I abandoned the double W-word appellation, added the adjective "flawlessly" to "wonderfully" and ripped through this moving story in one day. This very wise book reminds the reader, in the final analysis, all we really can control in our lives is our attitude.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "HEART-WRENCHING, POIGNANT, AND EMOTIONAL!" April 12, 2012

By Geraldine Ahearn TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

At the age of thirteen, Helen lost her mother to cancer and her father walked out, leaving Helen's older sister to become legal guardian to Helen. In one of the most difficult stages of childhood, Helen was crushed with the devastation of loss, and abandonment. As the years passed by, Claire managed to always be there for Helen, which lead Helen to move on with positive plans for her future, and education. Although Helen followed Claire's good advice, nothing removed the pain and suffering that took hold of Helen's life. At the age of twenty, Claire grew up overnight to become a mother to Helen. The two daughters dealt with grief, resentment and anger in different ways. How did the girls feel about their father having an affair while married to their mother? How close were the girls with their mother, and what did they miss the most? I highly recommend "DAUGHTERS FOR A TIME" to all fiction and literature lovers, who enjoy stories that are heartfelt and powerfully moving. Jennifer Handford delivers a first novel that will not only make you laugh and cry as it tugs at the heartstrings, but one that will make you crave for more. A mother dies at age forty, a father disappears from the foot of the earth, and two young girls struggle for survival in an ever-changing world. The reader can feel mixed-emotions as two girls are deprived of love, and family. The author clearly reminds us of what unconditional love is, the longing for a family, and the trauma of a broken heart. How many years did Helen try to get pregnant, and how did she feel about adoption? When did Helen have a miscarriage, and how many years was she depressed? What happened to Claire, and what did that do to Helen? The reader is taken through the life of one family, torn to pieces for different reasons from horrifying events that lead to wounds never healed, nor forgotten. Each page is filled with sadness, anger, resentment, and the desperate need to cope.

More About the Author

Jennifer Handford is the author of Daughters for a Time, an acclaimed novel that has sold more than 80,000 copies. People Magazine hailed it, "A wrenching, resonant debut about infertility, cancer and adoption. Grab your hankies." In 2010, Jennifer was one of three first-place finalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. Jennifer is currently teaching writing at American University. Her second novel, Acts of Contrition, will be published in early 2014.