The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

I just finished an absolutely amazing book.  It was just the book I needed to distract myself from my life. I could NOT put it down.  What was this magical book, you ask?  Diane Chamberlain's The Stolen Marriage.  


I love Diane Chamberlain.  She blends suspense with women's fiction (and this time historical fiction) in a way that just makes you keep wanting more. 

In this novel we meet Tess, a young woman who is studying to become a nurse and who is engaged to a newly minted young doctor named Vincent.  Tess and Vincent grew up together in Baltimore's section of Little Italy, both as devout Catholics and both with families who love the couple and each other dearly.  It is also1943, the middle of WWII, and  the beginning of a large polio epidemic, which at this point is hitting it's hardest in Chicago.  Vincent, being the good man and enthusiastic new doctor he is, goes to Chicago to volunteer his time.  What he claims to be a few weeks turns into a few months and Tess is well... she's upset and lonely.  So, rather than sit home and sulk, Gina and Tess take a girl's weekend trip to Washington D.C.  Only Tess makes one large and horrifying mistake that changes EVERYTHING.  

Now, while I absolutely adored this book I did have one complaint.  I wanted more.  I felt that the ending was too abrupt, and prior to the epilogue, I was hoping that this novel would continue into a sequel.  WHY DID IT HAVE TO END SO QUICKLY!?!? 

So Dewey Readers, I give you a rating of 4.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  (But, I gave it 5 on GoodReads.)  

Until the next read!
~Jessica