shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Original Essays | November 5, 2009

John Buntin: IMG Notes from the (Bibliographic) Underground



For more than 60 years, Los Angeles's origins, its underbelly, and (yes) its blondes have fueled the imagination of writers and directors from... Continue »
  1. $18.20 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$6.95
List price: $13.95
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Burnside Romance- General
1 Local Warehouse Literature- A to Z

Before the Storm

by Diane Chamberlain

Before the Storm Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Fifteen-year-old Andy Lockwood is special.

Others notice the way he blurts out anything that comes into his mind, how he cannot foresee consequences, that he's more child than teenager. But his mother sees a boy with a heart as open and wide as the ocean.

Laurel Lockwood lost her son once through neglect. She's spent the rest of her life determined to make up for her mistakes, and she's succeeded in becoming a committed, protective parent—maybe even overprotective. Still, she loosens her grip just enough to let Andy attend a local church social—a decision that terrifies her when the church is consumed by fire. But Andy survives…and remarkably, saves other children from the flames. Laurel watches as Andy basks in the role of unlikely hero and the world finally sees her Andy, the sweet boy she knows as well as her own heart.

But when the suspicion of arson is cast upon Andy, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son…and how far she'll go to keep her promise to protect him forever.

Review:

"Chamberlain (The Bay at Midnight) lays out her latest piece of romantic suspense in a shattered chronology that's as graceful as it is perfectly paced. Most of the adults in the tightly knit coastal community of Topsail Island, N.C., accept the widowed Laurel Lockwood's 15-year-old mentally disabled son, Andy. But when Andy saves many of the town's youth during a tragic fire, he becomes a local hero who garners national attention. Laurel, caught up with making sure Andy is okay, thinks daughter Maggie, a high school senior, can handle herself. What Maggie hides from everyone are her slipping grades, a taboo affair and a terrible secret, and when the fire's origins are investigated and Andy is a person of interest, events turn progressively darker for the family. Long, juicy flashbacks cover the mysteries of Laurel's husband's death, of Andy's condition and of Laurel's preoccupation with him. Chamberlain offers no easy solutions, but her engrossing prose leads the way to redemption. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

Overprotective of her troubled teenage son Andy, Laurel Lockwood allows him to attend a church social. When the church is consumed by fire, Andy saves the other children. But when Andy is suspected of arson, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son. Original.

Video

Product Details

ISBN:
9780778325413
Author:
Chamberlain, Diane
Publisher:
Mira Books
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Family life
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Mothers and sons
Subject:
Arson
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
June 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
470
Dimensions:
8 x 5.13 in

Other books you might like

  1. $13.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    The Boat

    Nam Le
  2. $6.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    A Blessed Event

    Jean Reynolds Page
  3. $8.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $14.00 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    The Shadow Catcher

    Marianne Wiggins
  5. $6.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  6. $9.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.