A Father's Love: One Man's Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home [Hardcover]

David Goldman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 5, 2011

The inspiring, heart-rending story of a father's unwavering love for his son.

David Goldman and his Brazilian wife, Bruna Bianchi, led what appeared to be a happy life in New Jersey. But in June 2004, Bianchi took their four-year-old son, Sean, to Brazil for what she said would be a two- week vacation. Once there, she informed Goldman that she was staying in Brazil-and keeping Sean, setting in motion an international controversy that would eventually reach the highest levels of the U.S. and Brazilian governments. It would be almost five years before David saw Sean again.

What kept David Goldman going when everything looked so hopeless? In A Father's Love, Goldman recounts his extraordinary battle, despite overwhelming odds, to bring his abducted son back home. It is a riveting story full of peculiar ironies, unfathomable elements, threats, and legal twists and turns. Goldman describes in detail the wrenching emotions he went through and how he relentlessly rallied support behind the scenes from both high-level U.S. government officials and national media organizations. Father and son were finally reunited in December 2009, and Goldman writes about the challenges he is now facing as he works to rebuild his relationship with his son, and the advocacy work he is doing on behalf of other children in similar circumstances.

Goldman's unusual story movingly celebrates an ordinary man's incredible love for and loyalty to his son, and his ability to overcome the unimaginable to keep them together. It is a testament to how connected any father and son can be.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Gut-wrenching . . . a journey of unimaginable heartbreak and loss.”

(-BookPage )

“A riveting tale of an unusual abduction.”

(-Kirkus Reviews )

“One engaging and bittersweet volume.”

(-New Jersey Monthly ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David Goldman grew up in Ocean Township, New Jersey, the son of a charter boat captain. A graduate of Virginia Wesleyan College. He runs a charter boat business and does advocacy work on international child abduction. Visit bringseanhome.org

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (May 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670022624
• ISBN-13: 978-0670022625
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Goldman is a father, author and activist, devoting his time to public speaking and advocating for victims of international child abduction.

David fought an inspiring five year battle to be reunited with his son, Sean, and bring him home to New Jersey. Abducted to Brazil in June 2004 by his mother, Sean returned to the United States with his father on Christmas Eve 2009 - a true Christmas miracle. The case received international media attention which opened the eyes of many around the world to the growing tragic issue of international child abduction. This eventually led to the personal involvement of a number of U.S. government officials, including President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ), and U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.

David authored the recently released A Father's Love: One Man's Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home, chronologizing his fight for his son and his ongoing advocacy work with the Bring Sean Home Foundation (www.BringSeanHome.org), which he co-founded in 2009. The Bring Sean Home Foundation works to provide assistance to the victims of international child abduction, educate the public about the issue, prevent future abductions, and draw attention to the increasing number of cases that currently exist with the purpose of returning abducted children to their home countries and reuniting them with their left-behind families.

David has appeared on numerous nationally and internationally syndicated television and radio programs, and been featured in various nationally distributed publications. David has testified as lead witness at congressional hearings. He has been instrumental in consulting members of Congress drafting legislation to prevent, curtail and to return internationally abducted children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking Story with a Happy Ending May 5, 2011

By Bibliophile By the Sea TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

A Father's Love tells the sometimes painful story of David Goldman's five year ordeal, in bringing his son back to his home in New Jersey from Brazil.

In 1997 when David was working in Italy, he met a Brazilian woman named Bruna Bianchi Soon the couple fell in love. The two married and made their home in a New Jersey seaside community where David resided, and two years later in 2000, their son Sean was born.

Since Bruna's family was from Brazil, the couple would often travel there a few times a year. In 2004, Bruna and Sean flew to Brazil for a two week vacation. David was to meet them there the following week, but four days into her visit she called her husband David to say that she wanted a divorce, as well as full custody of their son Sean. Shocked and in a state of disbelief, for over three years David struggled to find someone to help him to get his abducted son back. He made several trips to Brazil to see his son, but was repeatedly denied access to the boy, except for occasional and brief telephone calls. Gifts and cards which were sent to Sean by his father were sometimes returned.

Despite international court battles and judgments, his wife refused to give up their son. She divorced her husband David, and she married a prominent Brazilian attorney named Juno Paulo Lins e Silva. In August of 2008, the unimaginable occurred when Bruna died giving birth to her new husband's baby. Bruna's new husband seemed even more determined to see that David remained out of his son Sean's life, and he petitioned the court in Brazil to have Goldman's name removed from his birth certificate after Bruna passed away.

David Goldman, however, had no intentions of giving up on ever seeing his son again. More determined than ever, and assisted by New Jersey State Rep Chris Smith, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, David was finally successful in returning Sean to his home in New Jersey on Christmas Eve in 2009. Even though Goldman was successful in bringing his son home, the Brazilan family continued to bring court actions against Goldman, believing that Sean should be raised by Bruna's mother.

Each day since Sean returned home with his natural father, the two have grown closer and closer, establishing routines and trust and respect for each other. Even though not every day has been perfect, Sean is thriving in school and at home, since being returned to his birthplace and the home where his life began.

Well told, A Father's Love, is a poignant look at just how far a parent will go to do what is right on behalf of their child. I enjoyed this book, and feel that it not only tells the Goldman's story, but opens the communication to expose the fact that this is not an isolated case. International child abduction by parents is a very real problem that needs more exposure, and harsher penalties for offenders.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Father and son together again May 9, 2011

By mreed3562

Format:Hardcover

This is a really wonderful book. A truly heart wrenching story about a good man who, driven solely by the love for his son, went up against a giant and went through hell for over five years. Thankfully, at the end of it all, it becomes a heart warming story with a very satisfying ending.

David Goldman is a role model for every father on this planet.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational May 12, 2011

By Steve Trowbridge

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read this book in only 2 sessions, despite having followed the case closely at the time it happened and thus knowing exactly what was going to happen.

There are hundreds of similar stories out there, so what makes this one so special? To me it's:

--His wife, the abducting parent, died. If she hadn't, most of us almost certainly would never have heard of his case, nor is it likely that he would have ever seen his son again, or at least until he was over 18. Since he STILL didn't get his son back after her death makes his case even more unjust, in a situation (child abduction) where injustice is the norm. The flukiness of having a 32 year old woman die, in childbirth no less, lends the case an extra sense of drama, with unexpected twists and turns.

--He was fighting a powerful family who gave no consideration whatsoever to fair play: they just wanted to win, period. Thus there is a clear-cut enemy, whom it is as easy to root against as David is to root for. They told innumerable lies but the most unscrupulous act was trying to have David removed from Sean's birth certificate in Brazil. The best line in the book concerns this: we have ex-wives etc in Brazil but we don't have ex-parents!

--David's battle was fought in the mileau of the Brazilian justice system, a system almost Dickensian in its inefficiency and corruption. Although his court fight was mostly years of tedium and frustration, those courts were also populated with some incredible characters-judges utterly unconcerned with the law. The most vivid was a female judge who came into court in big sunglasses, presided over the court while being served by waiters as though in a restaurant, and who was completely unconcerned that she hadn't bothered to read the documents relating to the case. She looked at some photos and thought Sean and his mother were cute together-case closed.

--Most vital to the story was David himself-always staying calm and under control. This was important because I'm sure politicians such as Chris Smith and Hillary Clinton wouldn't have attached themselves to his case if they weren't absolutely certain he wouldn't embarrass them. When I followed the case I watched him closely since I suspected that someone so in control could just be a slick operator but in the end there was no questioning the barely-controlled emotion in his demeanor. We refer to men who have made a lot of money as 'successful' but his achievement here-keeping his goal in mind over years and years of frustration while being provoked to the extreme-is far more impressive. This is someone we can learn from.

Such a story would be interesting to most anyone but I felt particularly drawn to it because of certain parallels in my own life. I got married to a Brazilian on the exact day that David got married in 1999, though we got married in Rio. We then moved to the States and had a boy, just like him. I also was involved in a protracted, extremely frustrating legal situation (10 years, settled at exactly the same time as when Sean came home) in Brazil which amply demonstrated to me the absurdity of Brazilian law. Of course, my case was about property so was not nearly so emotional, nor did I have anyone like the Lins e Silvas fighting against me. That's my connection to the story-I'm sure most everyone else will be able to find their own.

This book will be made into a movie, no question. With the money that he makes from that venture he might be able to go on the offensive, instead of constantly having to merely react to nis nemesis' aggressions (this case is far from over, though the outcome is no longer in doubt to anyone other than 'grandma'). But I feel certain that's not the route he will take.

And, as an aside, those of us who love Brazil, despite all, have to wonder when they will wake up and see that the real difference between their country and countries like the U.S. isn't money-it is encapsulated in this story: a lack of fairness and justice that extends from their wretched police forces to their insipid judges. The U.S. has many, many flaws, but we're not Brazil and for that we can be thankful.