Steeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists, The Stolen Marriage is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain at the top of her talent. One mistake, one fateful night, and Tess DeMello’s life is changed forever. It is 1944. Pregnant, alone, and riddled with guilt, twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly … twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly gives up her budding career as a nurse and ends her engagement to the love of her life, unable to live a lie. Instead, she turns to the baby’s father for help and agrees to marry him, moving to the small, rural town of Hickory, North Carolina. Tess’s new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows her no affection. Tess quickly realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.
The people of Hickory love and respect Henry but see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain. When one of the town’s golden girls dies in a terrible accident, everyone holds Tess responsible. But Henry keeps his secrets even closer now, though it seems that everyone knows something about him that Tess does not.
When a sudden polio epidemic strikes Hickory, the townspeople band together to build a polio hospital. Tess knows she is needed and defies Henry’s wishes to begin working at there. Through this work, she begins to find purpose and meaning. Yet at home, Henry’s actions grow more alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients, can she untangle the truth behind her husband’s mysterious behavior and find the love–and the life–she was meant to have?
A Library Reads Top Ten Book of October 2017
Praise for The Stolen Marriage:
“[A] well-crafted crime-tinged tale.” —Publishers Weekly
“The Stolen Marriage is the kind of story that will grab you and refuse to let you go until you turn the last page.” —All About Romance
“Readers will be sucked in immediately…you just can’t go wrong with a book with [Chamberlain’s] name on the cover.” —Southern Pines Pilot
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I love historical fiction and Diane Chamberlain did an incredible job with this book, set during the war, but with the focus being more on the polio crisis than the war overseas. The main character, Tess, really grew during the story and faced much difficulty. Some of the difficulties were caused by her own mistakes and others were just plain unfair and gave me a number of characters to dislike. There are a lot of secrets in Hickory, where Tess ends up, but they re walk themselves all in good time. I highly recommend The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain.
Loved it…. Could not put it down…..
I did not understand the name of the title until just about the end of the book….. what a surprise at the end!
Enjoyed it so much. Wonderful characters. Couldn’t put it down!
This is my first novel written by Diane Chamberlain but it most certainly won’t be my last. I enjoyed this novel. Her characters were very believable. I also enjoyed the historical content as it was woven into the story. I certainly was surprised by Henry’ s secret. Great read.
The Stolen Marriage drew me in and held my attention from start to finish. Diane Chamberlain masterfully weaved in the personal and social tensions of the era. Her characters were well developed and believable with many layers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Chamberlain.
The Stolen Marriage is a historical fiction novel set in 1944 United States. After a fateful mistake — a one night stand resulting in a pregnancy — Tess loses everything she loves most. She marries the stranger who fathered her baby, moves to a small town in the South, and is met with unfriendly neighbors and in-laws and more secrets than she knows what to do with.
The Stolen Marriage was a well-written and intriguing novel. Its backdrop is the American South during WWII, full of racial prejudice and unaccepting of an unwed mother, especially one who “conveniently” married a wealthy bachelor. The story had much to say about the racial prejudice, and I believe the historical attitudes were recorded accurately. It was interesting and sad to learn about. Other historical events and attitudes were also written about in the novel, and as far as I can tell, they also were represented accurately. The polio epidemic and the hospital that was built in a couple of days were quite interesting to read about, though not the main focus of the novel.
I enjoyed the plot as much as the history. It wasn’t a romance, but there was mystery and a little bit of danger. The plot revolved around Tess as she struggled through the consequences of her mistakes and grew.
I didn’t like the morality or lack of it of some of the events. I mean, some things are obviously mistakes and were dealt with accordingly in the novel. But other choices, even illegal ones, were made during the story and didn’t have negative consequences. I can’t really explain without spoilers.
To those readers who are interested in content warnings, as I am: there was limited swearing and drinking and a couple of barely described bedroom scenes. I already described the morality of the novel for he most part, and I didn’t especially like the man who called himself a reverend and spoke to the spirits of he dead, even though he was kind.
I enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel, the characters, and the history. As a Christian I’m not sure I would recommend this book because of the bedroom scenes and questionable morality, but otherwise I found it to be a very well-written and intriguing novel.
I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own, and I was not obligated to provide a positive review.
I’m not usually one for so called “chic lit” which I suspect that is would this novel could be labelled; but I couldn’t put it down. It was very well researched, interesting, informative, romantic and suspenseful. The characters were well fleshed out and realistic. I applaud the author for not having an aha moment for the heroine with regards to the rape. She would not have realised that she had been raped because she was still a product of her time. She would have blamed herself perhaps to the end of her days. What I didn’t find realistic was how she assisted her husband at the end of the novel. And that is the reason why I gave this book 4 rather than 5 stars. But, hey this is fiction and we have to suspend disbelief and all that. Otherwise, I thought that it was excellent novel–very enjoyable. I would recommend it.
I read this for a Book club and loved it! It touched on all emotions. It’s a look into the sexism, racism and classism in the 1940s…woven onto romance and forgiveness. While it may seem to move slowly at times, the speed at which things happen picks up along the way and we were all surprised by the unraveling at the end!
It was interesting the way the author built an intriguing story around a real event in a real place – a polio epidemic in North Carolina where a treatment hospital was built in just a few days’ time.
enjoyed it very much
Enjoyable read with a nice twist at the end.
Loved the characters loved the story. I didn’t know anything about thr polio epidemic in 1945 I didn’t know that if you married a person of a different race in north Carolina at that time it was illegal. Great book great ending
Great read.
I love every book I have read by Diane Chamberlin. She creates such real characters that they seem to come to life right off the page.
A good summer read
Enjoyed the story and characters in this book very much.
Satisfying page turner with a nice dose of history and not gooey romance. The ending was a little predictable, but brought nice closure to the story.
I love this book. Also I am a great follower of Diane Chamberlain.
I loved this book! It was one of those I couldn’t put down, but it was written by Diane Chamberlain, whose books never fail to grab me and hold on until the end!
I LOVED this book. It had many surprises. I read it in one night! I couldn’t put it down. Very vivid characters—a contrast between strong moral values and living on the edge. Five star!