Ayelet Waldman
Sourcebooks Landmark
359 pages
REVIEWS
"Ayelet Waldman's new novel, 'Daughter's Keeper,' attacks the war on drugs through its main character: 'I think this war you're fighting isn't against drugs at all,' Olivia, facing drug charges, tells a judge. 'I think it's a war against people.'
Waldman, however, wisely puts the story in the driver's seat and her political opinions on the passenger side. At its core is a redemptive journey taken by Olivia and her mother, Elaine, both of whom must overcome their strained relationship, the drug charges and Olivia's pregnancy, which forces Elaine to reconcile her ambivalence about motherhood.
As a former public defender and a consultant to the Drug Policy Alliance, a resource center focused on changing drug policy, Waldman knows firsthand how narcotics, and the government's approach to them, can rip lives apart.
The author, married to Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon ('The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay' 2001), gave up her career to take care of her children and write. She started with the 'Mommy Track' series of detective novels, and with 'Daughter's Keeper' further establishes herself as a writer in her own right."
—Denver Post
"Ayelet Waldman, a former public defender who teaches the legal and social implications of America's drug enforcement policies at Berkeley, could have easily written a brainy nonfiction book on the flaws and failures of the so-called war on drugs. Instead, Waldman has poured her knowledge into a gritty novel that portrays the innocent people who are caught in the middle. The two central characters in 'Daughter's Keeper' are Elaine Goodman, a Berkeley drugstore owner, and her 22-year-old daughter, Olivia, who suddenly finds herself facing a 10-year prison sentence. Olivia's crime? Taking a few telephone messages for her boyfriend, Jorge, and waiting in the car while he "introduces" some people. Unknown to her, it is Jorge's first methamphetamine deal. Both are arrested; according to federal law, Olivia is considered equally liable. To top it off, she is pregnant and, to Elaine's chagrin, decides to keep the baby. Not everything here works; after her arrest, Olivia abruptly transforms into a quasi Joan of Arc, and the trial scenes can be unrealistically overheated. What keeps you alertly turning the pages, however, is Waldman's incisive portrayal of Elaine as a reserved, indifferent mother who views her relationship with Olivia as a 'mandatory minimum sentence'—until she discovers in her daughter a surprising role model.
—The New York Times
"Waldman's passion and affection for her characters shine through."
—Publishers Weekly
"Waldman, known for her delightfully lighthearted 'Mommy Track' mysteries, here takes a serious turn as she explores the sad effects of the Government's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines on a middle-class California family. Elaine is a single mother whose relationship with her rebellious, difficult daughter Olivia is an emotional minefield. When Olivia, who is in the early stages of pregnancy, is arrested for selling drugs-although all she did was drive her boyfriend, an illegal Mexican immigrant, to meet his contact-both women come face to face with the realities of the law, which gives the judge little leeway in handing down a sentence. During Olivia's arrest, arraignment and trial, and especially after the birth of her granddaughter, Elaine realizes that she has been given a second chance to forge a loving connection with Olivia. Although Waldman is clearly no fan of mandatory minimums, she follows the dictates of every good writing teacher by showing, not telling, the readers the results of this misguided law. A good choice for all fiction collections."
—Library Journal
"Compelling… a story brimming with hope and second chances." (3 stars out of 4).
—People
"A page turner."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Memorable… compelling."
—Dallas Morning News
"Powerful and provocative."
—Vanity Fair
"A warm and funny novel."
—Glamour
HOME PAGE: Author photo by Reenie Raschke. Big Barda illustration by Clarkent78. Photo of Pat Conroy by David G. Spielman.