Breaking The Silence by Diane Chamberlain

I was given a copy of Breaking The Silence by Diane Chamberlain to review by WHSmith.co.uk.  It's being released at the beginning of next year.  This is what WHSmith.co.uk says about it:


Laura Brandon's promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she'd never heard him speak of before. A woman who remembers nothing - except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make. But Laura's promise results in another death - her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it...or to talk at all. Frantic and guilt-ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help, a man she's met only once before - a man who doesn't know he's Emma's real father. Guided only by a child's silence and an old woman's fading memories, the two unravel a tale of love and despair, bravery and unspeakable evil. This is a tale that links them all. It is a tale shrouded in silence...

This is a lovely book, really great.  It was similar to feel to those by Jodi Picoult although I don't think she's done a similar plot to this.  I found reading it had a nice feeling for the most part and I really enjoyed it.  It was difficult to put it down however and it left me wanting to know what happened to the characters afterwards, even though all the major plot points had been tied up.  The characters were just so realistic and alive that it left me wondering what came next for them.  However I do think a sequel would ruin it (but I'd love to read one).  I especially loved the poignancy of the last line of the book.  I won't share it as I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

This is a tale with twists to it.  I did guess one of them but there were at least three major twists I had no idea about.  Several of them I didn't realise were twists coming up and one of them made me gasp in shock when it happened.  That's not to say this is a shocking or scary book because it isn't.  Part of the story does take place in a psychiatric hospital and some of those scenes could be distressing to some as it details treatments involved, some of which were done to patients against their will.  From reading a note at the end of the book I believe that similar things did happen although the patients and setting in the book are fictitious.

I can't recommend this book highly enough, it was fantastic.