Guest Author Post: Is There a Noelle in your Life? by Diane Chamberlain *Book Giveaway*

Please welcome Diane Chamberlain, the award-winning author of twenty novels and New Jersey native (like me!) Diane is here to talk about her latest release, The Midwife's Confession, that will be released tomorrow from Mira. If you like books with a combination of romance, family drama, intrigue and suspense, then you should check out Diane's books.

I bet every one of you has known a woman like Noelle, the midwife in The Midwife’s Confession--a woman who's passionate about women’s health and who has devoted herself to others. She runs a program to help babies who need special care, is an advocate for the environment, eats healthy food and would do anything for those she loves. She lives in a small, cramped house that she doesn’t care all that much about: it’s shelter, that’s all she needs. And she owns a cat, of course! Does she sound familiar? I only hope the Noelle you know doesn’t carry a secret like the Noelle I created. Of course I’m not going to reveal what that secret might be, but it might cause you to look at the people in your life—not just the Noelles, but everyone, including your best friends--and wonder what deep wounds they’re hiding.

Noelle loves her two closest friends, Tara and Emerson. They’ve known each other since their college days. You may be lucky enough to have friendships as deep as theirs. If not, you probably wish you did. These three women couldn’t be closer. They’ve celebrated the joys in their lives and consoled one another over their losses. They think they know everything there is to know about one another . . . but they don’t.

I love writing about secrets. My previous career was as a psychotherapist and hospital social worker and I’m well aware of the damage secrets can to do to families and friendships, as well as to the person who holds them. I’m not giving anything away when I tell you that Noelle’s secret becomes so weighty and painful that it causes her to take her own life. Tara and Emerson, shocked that their life-embracing friend would do such a thing, decide they must figure out why. They have no idea the magnitude of what they will uncover until it’s too late.

I’ll let you in on my own secret. When I wrote the first couple of drafts of The Midwife’s Confession, Noelle had no point of view in the book. It was my editor who suggested I allow her to tell part of the story herself, and what a difference it made when I gave Noelle that opportunity! She took me back to her past where she revealed things even I hadn’t imagined about her. By doing so, she not only surprised me but gave my readers a far richer story as well.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading The Midwife’s Confession. The next time you think about your friends, you may find yourself looking at them a bit differently . . . and loving them even more for all their flaws.

Synopsis: When Noelle Downie is found dead of an apparent overdose, her best friends Tara and Emerson are left blindsided by her death and struggling with burning questions. Everything they knew about their longtime friend—her natural calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—portrayed a woman who completely embraced life, not someone suicidal.

Clearing out Noelle’s small home, Tara and Emerson encounter old photos, handwritten birth records, and sincere thank you notes from Noelle’s former patients—no hint that Noelle had been unstable during the years leading to her suicide. But among Noelle’s belongings, an unfinished letter is discovered—a clue to a disturbing past and an unbearable secret. With just one piece to the puzzle, Tara and Emerson commit to digging deeper for clues, slowly peeling back years of hidden deception that had been silently tearing apart their best friend.


Bestselling author of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and The Lies We Told, Diane Chamberlain returns with her twentieth and most gripping novel to date, THE MIDWIFE’S CONFESSION (Mira Books; May 2011, $15.95), about two women who embark on a investigation of their best friend’s untimely death, ultimately revealing a powerful secret that threatens to destroy everything they thought they knew about her.

Contest! I have one copy of The Midwife's Confession to giveaway. In order for your chance to win, just leave a comment here by Thursday, April 28th. Open to US and Canadian residents only.