2010 DOUBLEDAY 352 PAGES
PURCHASE THE BOOK: AMAZON / BN.COM / INDIEBOUND / POWELL'S / RANDOM HOUSE
How much would you sacrifice to save someone you love?
When Olivia, wild-haired and headstrong, makes a terrible mistake, she must turn to the person least likely to help—her mother, Elaine. Motherhood was a role that Elaine never embraced and her best never amounted to much. But now Olivia faces prosecution for a naïve connection to a drug deal and she needs Elaine more than ever. As the days count down and Olivia's future hangs in the balance, Elaine must decide just how much she is willing to give for a second chance with her daughter.
With Daughter's Keeper, Ayelet Waldman has crafted a redemptive journey at once highly emotional and unbearably suspenseful, as Olivia and Elaine's struggle builds to a beautiful, heart-wrenching climax. In this luminous, gripping novel, Waldman brings to life the tensions and the tenderness that forge the unshakeable bond between parent and child. Daughter's Keeper reveals the unlimited boundaries of forgiveness and the sacrifices we make for love.
Praise for "Daughter's Keeper"
"A powerhouse novel of complex emotions so compelling that when I finished the book, I started over again." —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter
"Ayelet Waldman has brought the war on drugs home, and has shown us just how close to home it can come. Her mother and daughter reminded me of the women I most love and for whom I hold the greatest fear, those women and girls who fight tooth and nail, when their best hope lies in supporting each other. She looks past headlines and into the heart. What she finds there is hope for us all." —Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Waldman shapes outrage into a story that's always compelling, always compassionate-always so close to real that it feels like nonfiction." —Dave Eggers, author of You Shall Know Our Velocity
"Be prepared to stay up all night. Daughter's Keeper is a zippily intelligent and emotionally charged peephole into the peculiar politics that govern motherhood and the American legal system." —Heidi Julavits, author of Mineral Palace
"Smart and involving, Daughter's Keeper is a story of second chances, of reclaiming what has been lost, and of finding your way through the darkness and into the light." —Gail Tsukiyama, author of Dreaming Water
"A riveting story, as generous as it is large; Waldman presents a tale that unfolds layer by layer, revealing the complexities of sacrifice and regret, along side that ultimate desire to DO RIGHT, in this triumph of mother-daughter love." —Elizabeth Strout, author of Amy and Isabelle
Reviews of "Daughter's Keeper"
"Ayelet Waldman's new novel, 'Daughter's Keeper,' attacks the war on drugs through its main character: 'I think this war you're fighting isn't against drugs at all,' Olivia, facing drug charges, tells a judge. 'I think it's a war against people.'
Waldman, however, wisely puts the story in the driver's seat and her political opinions on the passenger side. At its core is a redemptive journey taken by Olivia and her mother, Elaine, both of whom must overcome their strained relationship, the drug charges and Olivia's pregnancy, which forces Elaine to reconcile her ambivalence about motherhood." —Denver Post
"Ayelet Waldman, a former public defender who teaches the legal and social implications of America's drug enforcement policies at Berkeley, could have easily written a brainy nonfiction book on the flaws and failures of the so-called war on drugs. Instead, Waldman has poured her knowledge into a gritty novel that portrays the innocent people who are caught in the middle. ...What keeps you alertly turning the pages, however, is Waldman's incisive portrayal of Elaine as a reserved, indifferent mother who views her relationship with Olivia as a 'mandatory minimum sentence'—until she discovers in her daughter a surprising role model. —The New York Times
"Waldman's passion and affection for her characters shine through." —Publishers Weekly
"Waldman, known for her delightfully lighthearted 'Mommy Track' mysteries, here takes a serious turn as she explores the sad effects of the Government's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines on a middle-class California family. ...Although Waldman is clearly no fan of mandatory minimums, she follows the dictates of every good writing teacher by showing, not telling, the readers the results of this misguided law. A good choice for all fiction collections." —Library Journal
"Compelling… a story brimming with hope and second chances." (3 stars out of 4). —People
"A page turner." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Memorable… compelling." —Dallas Morning News
"Powerful and provocative." —Vanity Fair
"A warm and funny novel." —Glamour
2010 DOUBLEDAY 352 PAGES
PURCHASE THE BOOK: AMAZON /BN.COM / INDIEBOUND / POWELL'S /RANDOM HOUSE
How much would you sacrifice to save someone you love?
When Olivia, wild-haired and headstrong, makes a terrible mistake, she must turn to the person least likely to help—her mother, Elaine. Motherhood was a role that Elaine never embraced and her best never amounted to much. But now Olivia faces prosecution for a naïve connection to a drug deal and she needs Elaine more than ever. As the days count down and Olivia's future hangs in the balance, Elaine must decide just how much she is willing to give for a second chance with her daughter.
With Daughter's Keeper, Ayelet Waldman has crafted a redemptive journey at once highly emotional and unbearably suspenseful, as Olivia and Elaine's struggle builds to a beautiful, heart-wrenching climax. In this luminous, gripping novel, Waldman brings to life the tensions and the tenderness that forge the unshakeable bond between parent and child. Daughter's Keeper reveals the unlimited boundaries of forgiveness and the sacrifices we make for love.
Praise for "Daughter's Keeper"
"A powerhouse novel of complex emotions so compelling that when I finished the book, I started over again." —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter
"Ayelet Waldman has brought the war on drugs home, and has shown us just how close to home it can come. Her mother and daughter reminded me of the women I most love and for whom I hold the greatest fear, those women and girls who fight tooth and nail, when their best hope lies in supporting each other. She looks past headlines and into the heart. What she finds there is hope for us all." —Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Waldman shapes outrage into a story that's always compelling, always compassionate-always so close to real that it feels like nonfiction." —Dave Eggers, author of You Shall Know Our Velocity
"Be prepared to stay up all night. Daughter's Keeper is a zippily intelligent and emotionally charged peephole into the peculiar politics that govern motherhood and the American legal system." —Heidi Julavits, author of Mineral Palace
"Smart and involving, Daughter's Keeper is a story of second chances, of reclaiming what has been lost, and of finding your way through the darkness and into the light." —Gail Tsukiyama, author of Dreaming Water
"A riveting story, as generous as it is large; Waldman presents a tale that unfolds layer by layer, revealing the complexities of sacrifice and regret, along side that ultimate desire to DO RIGHT, in this triumph of mother-daughter love." —Elizabeth Strout, author of Amy and Isabelle
Reviews of "Daughter's Keeper"
"Ayelet Waldman's new novel, 'Daughter's Keeper,' attacks the war on drugs through its main character: 'I think this war you're fighting isn't against drugs at all,' Olivia, facing drug charges, tells a judge. 'I think it's a war against people.'
Waldman, however, wisely puts the story in the driver's seat and her political opinions on the passenger side. At its core is a redemptive journey taken by Olivia and her mother, Elaine, both of whom must overcome their strained relationship, the drug charges and Olivia's pregnancy, which forces Elaine to reconcile her ambivalence about motherhood." —Denver Post
"Ayelet Waldman, a former public defender who teaches the legal and social implications of America's drug enforcement policies at Berkeley, could have easily written a brainy nonfiction book on the flaws and failures of the so-called war on drugs. Instead, Waldman has poured her knowledge into a gritty novel that portrays the innocent people who are caught in the middle. ...What keeps you alertly turning the pages, however, is Waldman's incisive portrayal of Elaine as a reserved, indifferent mother who views her relationship with Olivia as a 'mandatory minimum sentence'—until she discovers in her daughter a surprising role model. —The New York Times
"Waldman's passion and affection for her characters shine through." —Publishers Weekly
"Waldman, known for her delightfully lighthearted 'Mommy Track' mysteries, here takes a serious turn as she explores the sad effects of the Government's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines on a middle-class California family. ...Although Waldman is clearly no fan of mandatory minimums, she follows the dictates of every good writing teacher by showing, not telling, the readers the results of this misguided law. A good choice for all fiction collections." —Library Journal
"Compelling… a story brimming with hope and second chances." (3 stars out of 4). —People
"A page turner." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Memorable… compelling." —Dallas Morning News
"Powerful and provocative." —Vanity Fair
"A warm and funny novel." —Glamour