The Courage Tree

February 1, 2001
A race against time to find a sick child lost in the West Virginia wilderness keeps pages turning in this suspenseful family drama by former psychotherapist Chamberlain (Breaking the Silence). Janine Donohue lives with her eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, on the Ayr Creek estate in Vienna, W.Va., a horticultural reserve operated by the descendants of the original owner. Janine's parents live in the main house, while Janine, a former Army Reserve helicopter pilot, and Sophie, who suffers from renal failure, live in the guesthouse. Despite resistance from her parents and ex-husband, Joe, Sophie is being treated with a new alternative herbal therapy, Herbalina, at the suggestion of estate horticulturist Lucas Trowell. The promising results have allowed Sophie to accompany her Brownie troop on a weekend camping trip. Joe blames Janine for Sophie's illness, believing it is a result of Gulf War syndrome, and disapproves of Sophie's trip. Sophie, her friend Holly and troop leader Allison travel in a separate car on the return journey, then an accident kills Holly and Allison. When the three don't arrive back with the rest of the troop, the police begin to search the dense West Virginia woods. Dazed, scared and weak without her medicine, Sophie manages to make it to a dilapidated cabin, where aging film star Zoe is hiding out. Zoe is awaiting the arrival of her daughter Marti, on the lam after a jailbreak, and Zoe is prepared to do anything to ensure her daughter's safety after many years of neglect. Meanwhile, Janine's parents and Joe suspect Lucas of foul play. Despite some cramped characterizations and too many narrative trails converging at once, this page turner will please those who like their stories with as many twists and turns as a mountain road. Multicity author tour.

February 15, 2001
Janine, a divorced mother of a critically ill child, finally puts her foot down in defiance of her dominating parents and ex-husband to obtain an alternative herbal treatment for her daughter. The experimental therapy works so well that she allows the fragile eight-year-old Sophie to attend Brownie camp; then, when the car Sophie was to return in fails to arrive, Janine is terrified. Unwilling to sit and wait, the formerly mild-mannered mother rents a helicopter and actually locates the crashed and burned car Sophie was traveling in, but neither Sophie nor her body is to be found. With the clock ticking, as Sophie can't survive long without dialysis, searchers soon give up, but Janine will not abandon hope. Aided by her lover, who has secrets that make her family suspect he is a pedophile, she relentlessly tries to rescue her determined little girl. Well-drawn characters and an unexpected and riveting plot make this a memorable thriller in the tradition of Joy Fielding and Mary Higgins Clark.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)