Somebody Else's Daughter [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Brundage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2008

A psychological thriller of secrets, dark motives, and an adoption buried in the past

At the center of Elizabeth Brundage’s new novel lies an adoption under stressed and tragic circumstances. Willa, brought up in elegant prosperity, is now a student at the prestigious Pioneer School. But her biological father, a failing writer and former drug addict, can’t live with himself without seeing her again.

In this idyllic Berkshires landscape, Willa’s adoptive parents have fled a mysterious past; a feminist sculptor initiates a reckless affair; teenagers live in a world to which adults turn a blind eye; and the headmaster’s wife is busy keeping her husband’s disastrous history and current indiscretions well hidden. The culmination of these forces is the collision of two very different fathers—biological and adoptive—and a villain whose ends and means slowly unfold with the help, witting and unwitting, of all around him. Somebody Else’s Daughter delivers an electric, suspenseful tale of richly conflicted characters and the disturbed landscape of the American psyche.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brundage's second novel concerns ugly secrets that lie beneath the glossy veneer of a wealthy town and popular school in the Berkshires, waiting to be exposed by three new arrivals: a sculptor, her son and a writing teacher who gave up his daughter for adoption many years ago. Thrillers often make great audiobooks, because they offer frequent heart-stopping twists and turns. But this literary thriller, with its careful, delicate writing and a slow buildup to a powerful, sudden—and fairly predictable—denouement, is less suited to audio. Despite Bernadette Dunne's considerable efforts, the reading drags from time to time. Mark Bramhall only voices the prologue; the remainder of the book belongs to Dunne, who ably evokes both genders and is particularly skilled with New England accents. Despite the slowness of the story and patience required of the reader, this is a satisfying audio experience. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, May 26). (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Students, parents, teachers, townies: Somebody Else's Daughter is a deft balancing act of taut plot and richly drawn characters struggling to find their moral centers as they grope in the dark for the transformative power of love. I didn't so much read this novel as devour it. Brundage is a storyteller supreme."
-- Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True and The Hour I First Believed

"Elizabeth Brundage is a brilliant novelist with an unfailing eye for the detail or word that will make a moment resonate and expand in the mind. It's what every great dramatist has in abundance. This new book is a riveting examination of how the past haunts the present, but beyond that, it is a relentless and powerful study of evil--of the forces that are loosed in our all too human attempts to love each other and find love. It is very moving and completely involving and I couldn't put it down. You won't be able to, either."
-Richard Bausch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1ST edition (July 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670019003
• ISBN-13: 978-0670019007
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, disturbing, completely gripping, August 16, 2008

By 

Shana Schmadeke - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Somebody Else's Daughter (Hardcover)

This is a dark, disturbing novel that was difficult to put down. I thought Brundage tackled some heavy issues in her debut novel, The Doctor's Wife, but she took on an even more massive load in Somebody Else's Daughter. Adoption, alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, sexual abuse, murder, AIDS, prostitution, adultery. Thanks to Brundage's skill as an author, there is a lot going on, but it doesn't overwhelm. She slowly weaves together seemingly disparate story lines and characters in a masterful way that never fails to leave me in awe of her talent as a storyteller.

What I love about Brundage is how she sets up her story. She takes her time, slowly creating a sense of place and developing her characters superbly. All of this is imbued with a subtle, underlying sense of suspense. I find myself reading her opening chapters with relish, knowing that she is building, gradually and deliberately, a gripping crescendo.

A distinct difference between this novel and Brundage's debut, for me, was the likability of the characters. Though The Doctor's Wife held me in its grip, I struggled to truly like any of the characters, despite the fact that they were extremely well-developed. Reading Somebody Else's Daughter, I found it easy to love several characters. Willa was conflicted and sensitive, spurning many of the elitist attitudes she had been raised in the midst of. Several of the characters - Willa's adoptive parents, Claire the feminist sculptor, Claire's pot-smoking son Teddy - were flawed but basically, in the end, good people. And Willa's biological father, Nate, well, I kind of fell in love with him ... a struggling writer with a past, he was handsome, passionate, wise, and sensitive - a perfect hero.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Phenomenal Read!, July 12, 2008

By 

Yael Davidowitz-neu (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Somebody Else's Daughter (Hardcover)

I read Somebody Else's Daughter in one sitting last night, pulling my first all-nighter since college; I literally couldn't get to sleep without knowing what was going to happen.

I found the novel thrilling, suspenseful, and incredibly well written. The detail involved in depicting each character's inner thoughts and differing assessments of various situations ws truly fantastic. I'm an avid reader and I can't remember the last time I was this wowed by a novel.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking Literary Novel Disguised as a Thriller, July 3, 2008

By 

S. Morris (ALBANY,NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Somebody Else's Daughter (Hardcover)

From the very first page I was completely caught up in the lives of these characters. This is a novel about several families who are challenged by frustrating times. The story revolves around a group of people who are involved with a private school in the Berkshires. Nate, a recovered heroin addict and struggling writer, returns to the town where he had given up his baby in a private adoption seventeen years before. He is an interesting and likable character who is anxious to find resolution in his life. Other characters come into his life, including his biological daughter, Willa. I don't want to say too much to give the story away, but I became a fan of this writer when I read her first book and I was very happily surprised by this one, which is just as gripping, but somehow even more intense. I highly recommend it. If you like thrillers, but also like good literary fiction,this is a combination of both. Read it!