BEFORE THE STORM
Diane Chamberlain
Mira
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2541-3
June 2008
Women's Fiction

Laurel Lockwood is a single, widowed mother raising her two children, 17 year old Maggie and 15 year old Andy, on the North Carolina shoreline in a house owned by her husband's family. The novel, told from the perspective of each of the main characters, is the story of one fateful night, when the local church caught fire while a youth group was having a "lock-in". From that event evolves this evocative novel and the pieces of the story that come together to give a picture of Laurel's life.

Andy is a special needs youngster with developmental disabilities caused by his mother's alcoholism
during her pregnancy. Laurel, orphaned when her parents perish in a cruise ship accident, is rejected during nursing school by her aunt and uncle. Part of this rejection is based on her involvement with Jamie, a motorcycle riding rich boy with a tattoo of "empathy" on his bicep. Older than Laurel, Jamie has flirted with becoming a minister. When she and Jamie become a couple his parents embrace her as their own daughter and her own losses are put in the past. But like all life events, these are not easily dismissed and Laurel's demons become stronger after she gives birth to Maggie, her first child.

This is a wonderful, haunting novel that perfectly captures one woman's quick descent into alcoholism
and the devastating impact this has on her marriage and her children. The characters are filled with
secrets, and the plot twist and turns around their painful life events. The author is exceedingly
clever at weaving the parts together into a novel that vibrates with emotion, pain, and triumph. I know
that Diane Chamberlain is a social worker by profession and the realism of this novel clearly reflects this. She  manages to capture the essence of fetal alcohol syndrome, the long term pain of parental loss, the sting of regret, and the impetuousness of youth all in one very well written novel. Not to be missed.

Reviewed by Jeri Neal
Rating: 4 ½