The Good Father [Paperback]

As with Diane Chamberlain's other books, 'The Good Father' is told through multiple narrators, which at first seem unconnected. Travis is a young father struggling to take care of his four-year-old daughter Bella, after a fire that cost him his mother, his house and his job; Robin is engaged to Dale, who is running for mayor and has just witnessed the birth of Hannah, Dale's teenage sister Alissa's baby; and Erin who spends her time sitting with her iPad in JumpStart coffee shop typing on message boards as she is haunted by the loss of her young daughter in a terrible accident on a pier.

At first there are a lot of characters to get to know and the reader is not quite sure how all the pieces in this puzzle of a story fit together. However this becomes more and more intriguing the more you read, as you begin to see where the story is heading and you wonder what choices the characters will make. I thoroughly recommend this book as I was hooked throughout all the way to the dramatic and satisfying conclusion and I will continue to read any books by this author.

I enjoyed this book from the first paragraph. It is incredibly easy to get pulled into the story and start caring for the characters. Bella is only just four years old, very cute and I immediately took to her. Her young father is clearly caring for her as well as loving her, yet he is resorting to feeding her Tictacs for breakfast! What is going on? Why are they in this desperate situation? Why is Travis (the dad) about to do something very risky, and why does he intend to leave Bella with Erin. Yet he hasn't actually asked Erin, he just puts a note in Bella's pocket. We don't even know who Erin is yet. As the reader we don't yet know much at all but I want to. I am hooked. This book is almost a thriller because you just have to know what is going to happen.
There are three main characters, Erin, Robin and Travis; who each have their own chapters to tell the story from their point of view. The book not only moves forward through each of them but also goes back in time to explain how each of them got to where they are now.
The Good Father is an easy book to read but not because it's shallow or fluffy.
Diane Chamberlain writes about people first and foremost. Her former career as a clinical social worker and therapist has clearly informed her work and gives her books a very grounded and "real" feeling.
Her books describe complicated situations and the character's responses to them in ways that are very easy to relate to.

Although Diane Chamberlain's books are currently marketed " for fans of Jodi Picoult " I personally prefer Diane mainly because I think she writes more complex characters with her trademark warmth and realism. I also enjoy the way she concludes her stories.
I think Jodi Picoult's books are very much more issue based, and the characters tend to be less rounded out. This is just my opinion. I am sure plenty of other readers will not agree. :-)

I started reading Diane's books about six months ago and have read all the ones I can find. She is an American writer who started having her work published back in the 90's so some of the books are harder to track down.
Also if you like Diane Chamberlain I would recommend Nancy Thayer and Kristin Hannah as two other US women writers that write similarly engrossing books. I wish that a UK publisher would publish more of all their work over here.

'You could block things from your mind for years at a time. You could make them go away because you know that if you let them in, the pain could nearly kill you.'

As this novel begins, we meet Travis Brown and his little daughter Bella. Travis has had a run of bad luck, losing his regular work in construction and also losing his home. It leaves him in desperate need of a new job, but despite his searches, there is little available, and as a result, he ultimately takes on a role against his better judgement, simply because he sees no other way out, and it will mean he can earn enough money to try and make a difference to their lives. Travis is in his early twenties and raising his little girl alone, without her mother Robin. He is the most prominent good father of the novel's title, and he cherishes Bella; everything he does is driven by his love for her and his need to care for her and bring her up well. When he meets Erin, a kind lady who he deems trustworthy and who takes an instant liking to Bella as they meet each morning in the coffee shop, he decides to trust her with the most precious thing he has.

I really liked the structure of this novel. Three narrators, Travis, Robin and Erin, and the author alternates between them to give us three different views of events. The starting point is a glimpse into the future, and it was interesting to then be taken back into the past, knowing that this scene was coming up, and seeing it from different viewpoints. Gradually, the past is revealed and we find out about Erin's own huge private tragedy, we discover the romance that Travis and Robin shared when they were younger, and we learn how and why Robin couldn't keep her own daughter or be involved in her upbringing. All three of them have personal battles to overcome, and are forced to confront the things that frighten them the most, or hold them back, in order to take back control of their own lives. The narrative builds to a tense climax as events come to a head.

I enjoyed this story. It is character driven, but equally the plot is riveting too. I was keen to find out how things would progress for all three of the main characters. The writer evidently carefully depicted the relationship between Travis and his father, and Robin and her father too, and brought these into the story; I think Travis's relationship with his father influenced how well he cared for Bella. Travis tells us: 'My father'd never broken a promise to me, and I remembered how that felt, knowing I could always trust him no matter what.' Back when Robin and Travis were together, the closeness of Travis and his father is noticed by her too, and we learn of another man who fits the novel's title: 'I loved my own father and I would have said we were close, but Travis's father was almost like a best friend to him. A really, really good father.' Robin Robin's relationship with her potential future sister-in-law Alissa is also well constructed and allows for Robin's changing perception of herself and the admission to herself of her true feelings.

I think Diane Chamberlain really is a consistently good writer, creating readable, engrossing stories about relationships and families, life and love, and she creates believable, flawed characters that the reader really comes to care about and root for. I always look forward to reading her books, and haven't been disappointed by one yet.