The Things We Do for Love: A Novel [Paperback]

Kristin Hannah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2010

Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.

Angie hires Lauren Ribido because she sees something special in the seventeen-year-old. They quickly form a deep bond, and when Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women—one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love—will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this tear-jerking novel by Hannah (Between Sisters), 38-year-old Angela Malone abandons a successful advertising career in Seattle to find comfort in West End, the small Pacific Northwest coastal town where she grew up. Pregnancy woes (chronic miscarriages, a baby who lived only for five days and a botched adoption) have caused her marriage to journalist Conlan to end in divorce. Her big, warmhearted Italian family welcomes her with open arms, and she throws herself into revamping the family restaurant, DeSaria's. Then she befriends hard-working teenager Lauren Ribido, who's in need of a new coat, some mothering and, later on, a place to live. Lauren's life is far worse than self-pitying Angie's—she's pregnant, her alcoholic mother has given up on her, and her rich boyfriend, David, is off to his first-choice college. Lauren can't go through with the abortion David encourages her to have, and the next step seems obvious: she should give the baby up to Angie, who's on the way to reconciling with Conlan. Hannah stacks the odds against Lauren almost absurdly, and makes her life with Angie a rose-tinted dream come true, but she paints a wrenching, convincing picture of the dilemma teenage mothers face. Familiar but warmly rendered characters, a few surprising twists and a bittersweet ending make this satisfying summer reading.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Best-selling Hannah's latest sensitive tale explores the need we all have for love in a portrait of two women of different ages and backgrounds. Angie Malone has come back to her small Washington State town after suffering the loss of a child, the end of a marriage, and the death of her father. Nestled in the bosom of her family, she tries to help with their failing restaurant. Her mother and sisters are glad she's home but realize that she needs something more as she copes with her grief, yet when Angie reaches out to 18-year-old Lauren Ribido, who seeks a job at the restaurant, they worry that she'll be disappointed. Lauren has not had an easy life. Her mother is an alcoholic who reminds Lauren constantly that she was a mistake and is the reason for their poverty, but Lauren is trying to rise above her circumstances through hard work and a quest for a college scholarship. Angie becomes attached to her and acts like a surrogate mother as they embark on a shaky friendship. Hannah captures the joy and heartache of family as she draws the reader into the lives of her characters and makes them feel like personal friends, proving once again why she is a star of women's fiction. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 418 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345520807
• ISBN-13: 978-0345520807
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kristin Hannah was born in September 1960 in Southern California and grew up at the beach, making sand castles and playing in the surf. When she was eight years old, her father drove the family to Western Washington which they called home.

After working in a trendy advertising agency, Kristin decided to go to law school. "But you're going to be a writer" are the prophetic words she would never forget from her mother. Kristin was in her third-and final-year of law school and her mom was in the hospital, facing the end of her long battle with cancer. Kristin was shocked to discover that her mother believed she would become a writer. For the next few months, they collaborated on the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written.

After her mom's death, she packed up all those bits and pieces of paper they'd collected and put them in a box in the back of her closet. Kristin got married and continued practicing law.

Then Kristin found out she was pregnant and was on bed rest for five months. By the time she'd read every book in the house and started asking her husband for cereal boxes to read, she knew she was a goner. That's when her husband reminded her of the book she'd started with her mom. Kristin pulled out the boxes of research material, dusted them off and began writing. By the time their son was born, she'd finished a first draft and found an obsession.

The rejections came, of course, and they stung for a while, but each one really just spurred her to try harder, work more. In 1990, Kristin got "the call," and in that moment, she went from a young mother with a cooler-than-average hobby to a professional writer, and has never looked back. In all the years between then and now, she have never lost her love of, or her enthusiasm for, telling stories. Kristin feels truly blessed to be a wife, a mother, and a writer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 TISSUE LISTENING, July 25, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Things We Do for Love (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc) (Audio CD)

Able voice performer Susan Ericksen delivers a fine performance as she articulates the hopes and dreams of two women, one a 38-year-old who appears to have lost everything, the other a young unwed mother-to-be.

Angela DeSaria Malone knew early on what the years ahead would hold: love, marriage and children. This was not to be. She has undergone what for her is surely the ultimate heartbreak: she has suffered miscarriages, lost a child, been unable to adopt, and finally her marriage has crumbled.

She returns to her hometown of West End hoping to find comfort among her family and familiar surroundings. Once there she loses herself in redoing the family restaurant, and she meets young Lauren Ribido. Lauren touches Angie's heart; the girl is pregnant, deserted by her lover and ignored by her mother. She's in desperate need of love and care. Of course, Angie provides both.

An abortion is simply out of the question for Lauren. But, what can she offer a child? Would it make sense for Angie to adopt the child? Sometimes the most logical conclusions are not in the offing. Both women are swept up in life altering experiences.

Another listen that requires Kleenex on the side.

- Gail Cooke

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, December 20, 2005

By 

eb (Roseville, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Things We Do for Love (Hannah, Kristin (Large Print)) (Hardcover)

I was looking for something to read on vacation and what a wonderful surprise! I was so pleased with this book that I am back today to buy at least 3 or 4 more by this author. I am a great fan of LaVyrle Spencer and was heartbroken when she quit writing but Kristin Hannah has a very similar style and I am so excited to have discovered her. The characters are so real and the stories so believable that you forget it is a novel. Can't wait to get my package from Amazon!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deep relationship drama, June 26, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Things We Do for Love (Hardcover)

Angela and Conlan Malone divorce after fourteen years of marriage because she never recovered from emotional setbacks caused by her infant's death and a failed adoption. The advertising guru flees Seattle for her hometown of West End, a few hours away. In town, her recently widowed mom and her sisters welcome her home, but the siblings still hold some resentment on the special treatment their dad provided to his Princess while they slaved in the family restaurant, DeSaria's.

Since the fourth grade, Lauren Ribaldo has worked to insure she would never duplicate the loser life of her mother. When she lost her job due to cutbacks, she searched for employment to pay the rent, but high school seniors have limited opportunities. Angela needs to help the teen, finally hiring her as a waitress while she struggles to save the family business. As she helps Lauren improve her life, Angela feels she receives more back as she has the child she always wanted, though she thought it would be playgrounds for a while not fancy dates. Déjà vu will soon test the relationship between these proud folks.

Readers will appreciate this deep relationship drama starring a solid female protagonist struggling with emotional setbacks and a fine support crew that brings Angela further alive for the audience. The story line is filled with emotional excitement whether it is the restaurant, the broken link with Conlan or the growing relationship between Angela and Lauren. Fans of a five tissue box character study will enjoy THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE and want a future tale starring an older Lauren.

Harriet Klausner