Don't Let Me Go: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Buch 2 von 3: The No Child of Mine Trilogy

Lewis, Susan

 
9780345547736: Don't Let Me Go: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 034554773X ISBN 13: 9780345547736
Verlag: Ballantine Books, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

In this follow-up to the riveting international bestseller No Child of Mine, author Susan Lewis delivers an emotionally complex novel—perfect for readers of Jodi Picoult—of reinvention, reconnection, and the deepest love that can bind two people together.

Charlotte Nicholls can hardly believe it, but it seems she’s landed in paradise. Living in a cottage in a shady cove on the beautiful Bay of Islands, surrounded by the splendor of New Zealand, Charlotte revels in her new life. She and her nearly four-year-old daughter, Chloe, have started over, with the help of Charlotte’s birth mother, Anna, who has recently reentered Charlotte’s life after a twenty-six-year absence. Little Chloe is thriving in her new home, and despite lingering effects from a terrible trauma Chloe has suffered, Charlotte is hopeful that love will pull her through. And though their relationship is tentative, Charlotte and Anna are slowly rebuilding their trust after nearly a lifetime apart.
 
But the horrors of the past—both recent and long buried—are never far from Charlotte’s mind. And then their idyll is suddenly shattered, as a series of events is set in motion that Charlotte can neither control nor comprehend. It will take all of Charlotte’s strength to keep her little family together, in the face of a world that will do everything it can to tear them apart.

Praise for Don’t Let Me Go
 
“An emotionally complex novel.”—USA Today

“Unputdownable . . . a compelling blend of family dynamics, courtroom drama, and love story.”—Booklist

“You know you’re in the hands of a master storyteller when you can’t bear the tension. Susan Lewis drops you into a nightmare where the best interests of a child collide with the law designed to protect her. The endearing little girl at the center of this poignant and gripping tale, as well as the brave protagonist, will win your heart.”—Diane Chamberlain, internationally bestselling author of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

“A gripping tale that pulls you in from the first chapter to the end, Don’t Let Me Go is a read that will remind you just how precious children are.”—Romance Reviews Today

Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Susan Lewis is the internationally bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including No Child of Mine, Missing, A French Affair, and Stolen. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the deeply moving and often hilarious memoirs of her childhood in the sixties. Having resided in France and the United States for many years, she now lives in the rural county of Gloucestershire, U.K.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1

Never, in all her twenty-nine years, had Charlotte Nicholls imagined life being this good. OK, she didn’t have the right partner, nor was there even the glimpse of some dashing Romeo ready to charge over the horizon, though it had to be said that her horizons these days were truly gorgeous to behold. Surrounded by calmly floating islands in shimmering blue seas, enchanted by dazzling red sunsets that took the breath away, she was actually living in paradise. And this shady cove where she stood now, tucked like a precious secret into the southerly shores of New Zealand’s Te Puna Bay, was home for her and three-year-old Chloe (soon to be four)—along with a rowdy jabber of parrots, a lively orchestra of cicadas, and a whole host of marine life that flopped and skimmed and dived about the waves like circus performers.

Charlotte was becoming quite skilled now at easing memories of the past aside and allowing the joy and the promise of her new life to eclipse all she’d left behind. Gazing out at the bay and reminding herself of how lucky she was to be here usually did it. Not always, it was true, but if it didn’t work, then a single glance at Chloe and how happy she was here, how transformed from the silent, traumatized toddler she’d been a few short months ago, was enough to convince her they were in the right place.

Charlotte had yet to find herself a job. However, she’d resolved not to stress about her future until she’d explored the best ways for her various talents to be put to use.

“There’s no rush,” her mother kept assuring her. “Time is on your side and money isn’t an issue.”

What a strange concept that was for Charlotte, not having money—or the lack of it—as an issue. A definite first in her life, and long might it last.

Long might all of it last, though she knew only too well that it could fall apart in a heartbeat.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

They were safe here with her mother and stepfather, Bob, who lived in the big house on the point of the headland at the far end of the bay’s southern shore. Their exotic stretch of white sandy beach joined Charlotte and Chloe’s cove when the tide was out, so they could walk through muddy puddles across to the lodge. When the tide was in or the weather was rough, they’d walk up the sun-dappled incline from their cove to where Charlotte kept the car, beneath an old puriri tree, and drive through the citrus orchards and vineyards to the main house.

Bob’s grapes were pinot gris, chardonnay, and shiraz—his wines, according to Rick, his irreverent son, were “bloody undrinkable,” but Bob was more bothered by a recent infestation of hares on his land than he was by his son’s uneducated palate.

Charlotte’s mother, Anna, had helped to design the exquisite Cape Cod–style lodge with its pale gray wooden walls, white shutters, and balustrades, while Bob, a semi-retired dentist cum property developer, had built it. The land around, all sixty or more acres of woodlands, orchards, rambling hillsides, and vineyards, constituted the impressive estate. And the quaint beachfront dwelling at the heart of Charlotte and Chloe’s cove, known as a bach—short for bachelor pad—was where Rick, Bob’s son, had lived and partied during his student years. These days Rick was an advertising executive based in Auckland, though he still found time to visit his father’s rambling idyll out here on the magical Bay of Islands.

Charlotte and Chloe loved it when Rick was around. Already he was like the brother Charlotte had never had, and seeing the way Chloe had taken to him, even calling him “Uncle Wick,” was so sweet that it made Charlotte’s heart sing like a bird. Rick’s too, if his beaming smiles and overindulgence were anything to go by.

That Chloe could relate so well to a man after all she’d been through was the greatest source of joy for Charlotte. However, the damage was far from healed, and since they’d escaped the nightmare Rick was really the only man in whose company Chloe seemed able to relax. It pained Charlotte to see how withdrawn she became if Bob spoke to her, especially when he was so gentle and kind. Of course, he understood about her past, and though it must surely sadden him not to be able to swing her up in his arms and rough-and-tumble with her the way he did with his other grandchildren, he never tried to force her.

How awful it must have been for him to be likened in Chloe’s mind to her monster of a father, but he never let it show, nor spoke a single word about the pain this caused him.

For the most part, however, both Charlotte and Chloe were loving getting to know their new family, which also included Rick’s older sister, Shelley, her husband, Phil, and their children, Danni and Craig. Until seven months ago, which was when Anna, Charlotte’s mother, had come back into Charlotte’s life after a twenty-six-year absence, Charlotte hadn’t even known that any of these people existed. Now, after four months of being here, she was already feeling as though she’d known them for most of her life. She felt so much easier with them than she ever had with her adoptive parents, though if the truth were told she knew that something inside her still couldn’t quite forgive her mother for abandoning her at the age of three. Of course she understood why her mother had done it—anyone would understand if they knew the story of what had happened back then. However, Charlotte only had to look at Chloe, who was currently paddling and poking about in the surf as it swirled and foamed around her chubby ankles, to doubt whether she could ever have done the same.

She mustn’t be judgmental. It would get her nowhere, and what she really wanted, more than anything, was to bond with her mother in the way so many daughters did with their mothers. It would take time, she understood that, and they had time now—and once she’d managed to fight off the demons inside her, she felt sure, a close and loving relationship would follow.

She’d never been close to the woman who’d adopted her. Myra Lake, wife of Douglas, the rector, had never been cruel or neglectful, but neither had she ever really wanted her. It was the rector who’d rescued three-year-old Charlotte from the terrible tragedy that had struck Charlotte’s birth family, and he’d taken her home to his wife. Myra and Douglas were both dead now, but their natural daughter and Charlotte’s adoptive sister, Gabby, was very much alive.

It always hurt to think of Gabby, so Charlotte inhaled deeply the tangy salt air that embraced her with warmth and the fragrance of flowers, as though the very essence of her new world could stifle the old one. She listened to the music of the waves and chirrup of cicadas, and let her thoughts drift around the bay along with the terns, shags, and occasional gull. When the tide was in, as it was now, a stream of water curved around the back of their cove like an arm, creating a translucent blue brook between their bach and the beach. A swing on ropes dangled over the far side of the brook, while a white wooden footbridge connected their garden to the shingly sand. There were eighteen stepping-stones leading across their lawn to the bach, and Chloe could count ten of them in Maori.

She was starting to blossom at the Aroha Child Care Center in Waipapa; she had friends now and projects to complete. She was even allowing Charlotte to leave her there for three mornings a week, though Charlotte was always anxious during those hours in case Chloe suddenly blurted out something about her past.

Smiling as Chloe...

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Verlag
Ballantine Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
034554773X
ISBN 13 
9780345547736
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
544
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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