Steeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen
Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals,
prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of
her talent.
*
One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello's life is changed
forever.*
It is 1944. Pregnant, alone, and riddled with guilt,
twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly gives up her budding career
as a nurse and ends her engagement to the love of her life, unable to
live a lie. Instead, she turns to the baby's father for help and agrees
to marry him, moving to the small, rural town of Hickory, North
Carolina. Tess's new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often
stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows her no
affection. Tess quickly realizes she's trapped in a strange and loveless
marriage with no way out.
The people of Hickory love and respect Henry but see Tess as an
outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain. When one of the
town's golden girls dies in a terrible accident, everyone holds Tess
responsible. But Henry keeps his secrets even closer now, though it
seems that everyone knows something about him that Tess does not.
When a sudden polio epidemic strikes Hickory, the townspeople band
together to build a polio hospital. Tess knows she is needed and defies
Henry's wishes to begin working at there. Through this work, she begins
to find purpose and meaning. Yet at home, Henry's actions grow more
alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients,
can she untangle the truth behind her husband's mysterious behavior and
find the love--and the life--she was meant to have?
A Library Reads Top Ten Book of October 2017
Praise for The Stolen Marriage:
[A] well-crafted crime-tinged tale. --Publishers Weekly
The Stolen Marriage is the kind of story that will grab you and refuse
to let you go until you turn the last page. --All About Romance
Readers will be sucked in immediately...you just can't go wrong with
a book with [Chamberlain's] name on the cover. --Southern Pines
Pilot
