Not My Daughter [Paperback]

Barbara Delinsky (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 3, 2011

 When Susan Tate’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned.  A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right.  She sees the pregnancy as an inconceivable tragedy both for Lily and herself.  Then comes word of two more pregnancies among other high school juniors who happen to be Lily’s best friends.  The town turns to talk of a pact.  As fingers start pointing, the emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in an emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Exclusive: Kristin Hannah Reviews Not My Daughter

Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of 18 novels, including Firefly Lane, On Mystic Lake, Between Sisters, and True Colors. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. Read her exclusive Amazon guest review of Not My Daughter:

In this compelling, ripped-from-the-headline offering from bestselling author Barbara Delinsky, three high school seniors make a pregnancy pact. Heightening the stakes, these aren’t just any seniors--these are three popular, college-bound girls from good families. Set in an insular, tightly knit community in Maine, Not My Daughter explores the consequences of pact behavior on a small town, as well as the strain placed on mothers and daughters who find themselves in unfamiliar terrain. One of the pregnant teens is the daughter of the high school principal--a former teen mother herself--and the local school board is quick to assign blame. When the national media gets wind of the story, the principal’s job is put in jeopardy, as is her standing in the community. Not My Daughter is a timely exploration of teen motherhood and the hard choices that sometimes have to be made in life. Barbara Delinsky, long known as one of the premier authors of women's fiction, once again reveals the hidden strengths of ordinary women when faced with extraordinary adversity.--Kristin Hannah

(Photo © Deborah Feingold)

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--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Delinsky proves once again why she's a perennial bestseller with this thought-provoking tale of three smart, popular teenage girls who make a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. Lily, Mary Kate, and Jess also happen to be the daughters of best friends Susan, Kate, and Sunny, and the mothers are thrown into a tailspin by this unexpected news. Susan, the principal of the town's high school, has the most to lose, when the schools superintendent and editor of the local newspaper question her abilities as a leader and mother, and other parents prove quick to blame her—a single mother herself who got pregnant as a teenager—as a poor role model. But all three women must come to grips with where they failed as mothers, how the dreams they had for their daughters are disappearing, and scathing smalltown judgment. Timely, fresh, and true-to-life, this novel explores multiple layers of motherhood and tackles tough questions. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767928962
• ISBN-13: 978-0767928960
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Delinsky, author of SWEET SALT AIR (2013), ESCAPE (2011), NOT MY DAUGHTER (2010), WHILE MY SISTER SLEEPS (2009), THE SECRET BETWEEN US (2008), and FAMILY TREE (2007), has written more than twenty bestselling novels with over thirty million copies in print. She has been published in twenty languages worldwide. Barbara's fiction centers upon everyday families facing not-so-everyday challenges. She is particularly drawn to exploring themes of motherhood, marriage, sibling rivalry, and friendship in her novels.

A lifelong New Englander, Barbara earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. As a breast cancer survivor who lost her mother to the disease when she was only eight, Barbara compiled the non-fiction book Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes. She donates her proceeds from the sale of this book to her charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Barbara enjoys knitting, photography, and cats. She also loves to interact with her readers through her website at www.barbaradelinsky.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bdelinsky, and on Twitter as @BarbaraDelinsky.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Barbara Delinsky's latest novel reminds this reviewer just how powerful a story --- even a fictional one --- can be January 11, 2010

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

NOT MY DAUGHTER is a riveting story that confronts a subculture of teenage girls and their pact to become pregnant. Barbara Delinsky's tale is set in Zaganack, a small coastal town in Maine that serves as a microcosm of the social, political, economic and cultural landscape of our times. A company town for an upscale retailer, Zaganack is an old township of family ties and deep communal relations, and its values are reflected in that understanding. But this town will be challenged by the age-old question: What makes someone a "good mother?"

Susan, Kate, Sunny and Pam have been friends for a long time. As part-time co-workers, they even created PC Wool, a subdivision of the local retailer specializing in dyed wools, designs and patterns. Just as the mothers are close to one another, so are their four daughters, Lily, Mary Kate, Jess and Abby. The girls are all intelligent, popular and outstanding high school seniors whose mothers are anticipating them going forward with their education when they graduate.

At a mother-daughter evening out, Lily announces to her mother that she is pregnant. Susan, who became a single parent as a teen, is confounded by the news. She also learns that Lily is not the only one expecting --- Mary Kate and Jess are as well. Susan informs Lily's father, Rick, who has always been part of their lives but upon hearing this news decides to become more involved. When it is discovered that there has been a pact between the girls to become pregnant, the characters of each of the mothers and their relationships with their daughters are brought into question. How could this have happened to their smart and wonderful children?

For Susan, the high school principal, Lily's pregnancy has unintended consequences. Susan is faced with defending herself as both mother and principal as she too was an unmarried teenage mother. Her core principles are put to the test as she is criticized for being an unconvincing role model. Some parents and others question if this is history repeating itself.

As the town, school and businesses try to figure out the why, where and who surrounding the pregnancy pact, there are increasing calls for Susan's resignation. Will she keep her job? What about the girl's lives, their friendships and their babies? Is marriage something for all of them to consider? Each mother and daughter must evaluate their bond to one another and the new lives growing inside the young women.

Barbara Delinsky's latest novel reminds this reviewer just how powerful a story --- even a fictional one --- can be. She has captured through her characters and their difficulties some of the social and cultural fabric of our times. This tale reflects the struggles that teen pregnancy creates for the mother-daughter bond, female and family relationships, and their professional and community lives. Delinsky's characters are like friends you might know, and with her uncanny ability to tell a story, you won't be able to wait to turn the page.

With realistic dialogue, credible characters and defining values, NOT MY DAUGHTER is one worth bringing to your book club or using in a discussion with family and friends.

--- Reviewed by Jennifer McCord

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Immature and awful January 30, 2010

By Vicky

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I couldn't make it through. It sounds like it was written from the point of view of a 6th grader. Three best friends DECIDE they want to intentionally get pregnant and all three then announce it to their parents as if they just won the elementary school spelling bee and they're SHOCKED that their parents are unhappy. But the kicker is, the parents act like their daughters just lost an elementary school spelling bee and instead of treating it like what it is -- three extremely selfish, manipulative, shallow, and irresponsible girls taking it upon themselves to ruin their own lives, the lives of the men they so casually slept with, and the lives of the poor innocent children they're about to bore -- they end up bellyaching for page after page about what this all means and what ever will become of their reputations, their jobs, what people will think.

I'm sorry, but these parents should have been beyond LIVID at what these girls did. I'm never in favor of parents disowning their children, but come on! What parent in his or her right mind would be so cavalier about this? No screaming? No "who the hell raised you?" No "I didn't raise a young woman so selfish and self-involved as this"? None of that? It was more of a "well, what can I do now?" kind of attitude. I found it hard to swallow.

The dialogue was hard to get, frankly, but even more disappointing was the relationships. I expected a true mother/daughter story with strong emotions and scenes I could visualize in my mind. Instead, half the book was about the girls with their heads in the clouds and the other half was the mothers trying to cover it up with ridiculous dilemmas like "should I out the other girls or should I not?"

Anyway, I was disappointed in what I got.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars predictable, a modern harlequin romance February 2, 2010

By Love to read

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book based on the many 4 & 5 stars rating and this was the first time that I have read anything from this author. To put it bluntly - this book was awful. The story is unrealistic, has a total pro-life approach ( which is fine but come on lets be realistic and not so in your face ) and was so sappy, predictable that I finished it only because I had purchased it for my kindle and gave it the benefit of the doubt that it MIGHT get better but - it didn't. It reminded me of a teen soap opera.