Introduction

Eight-year-old Sophie Donohue just wanted to be like every other little girl. Which is why her mother, Janine, reluctantly agreed to let her go on the weekend camping trip with her Brownie troop. But when Janine arrives to pick up Sophie after the trip, her daughter is not with the others. Somehow, along the forested route from West Virginia, Sophie has disappeared.

But Sophie is no ordinary eight-year-old. She suffers from a rare disease, and Janine has recently enrolled her in an experimental treatment as a last effort to save her life—despite the vehement objections of her ex-husband, Joe. Without her medication, Sophie cannot survive long. All her mother's instincts tell Janine that Sophie is alive, but time is running out.

Deep in the Virginia forest, another drama unfolds. Sophie finds refuge in a remote cabin inhabited by Zoe, a woman who wants nothing to do with the child. Zoe is struggling to save her own daughter from the law, and Sophie's presence jeopardizes any chance of that happening. She is as determined to save her daughter as Janine is to save Sophie…and only one of them can succeed.

Editorial Review

If you start your novel with a terminally ill child and a last-chance herbal remedy, chances are you've got a story. If you have the terminally ill child survive a car accident and become lost in the remote West Virginia woods you've got some stressful reading. If, for kicks, you put a psychopathic murderer in the woods, you've got Diane Chamberlain's nail-biting drama The Courage Tree. Sophie Donohue is the wise-beyond-her-years child. Janine is the mother wolf who courageously admits her child into the clinical trial of a new medicine against the advice of her ex-husband, Joe, and her cynical parents. Lucas Trowell is the literally tree-hugging love interest who supports Janine. Chamberlain knows how to place her characters in internal and external conflicts, and there are rich subplots for each character, though the abundance and timing of them can detract from the central drama. Even with its faults, The Courage Tree will lure you in and keep you reading late into the night.--Nancy R.E. O'Brien

Excerpt

No Excerpt Currently Available

Discussion Questions

No discussion questions at this time.

Weblinks

There are no web links at this time.

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.

Member Reviews

There are no user reviews at this time.
Rate this book