Barbara Delinsky

Publishers Weekly reviewers say Not My Daughter is "timely, fresh, and true-to-life:"

"Delinsky proves once again why she's a perennial bestseller with this thought-provoking tale of three smart, popular teenage girls who make a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. Lily, Mary Kate, and Jess also happen to be the daughters of best friends Susan, Kate, and Sunny, and the mothers are thrown into a tailspin by this unexpected news. Susan, the principal of the town's high school, has the most to lose, when the school's superintendent and editor of the local newspaper question her abilities as a leader and mother, and other parents prove quick to blame her - a single mother herself who got pregnant as a teenager - as a poor role model. But all three women must come to grips with where they failed as mothers, how the dreams they had for their daughters are disappearing, and scathing smalltown judgment. Timely, fresh, and true-to-life, this novel explores multiple layers of motherhood and tackles rough questions. (Jan.)"

&mdashPublishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews commendNot My Daughter as "emotionally intelligent....high drama and realism:"

"Emotionally intelligent... Delinsky has a knack for exploring the battlefields of contemporary life. Three high-school seniors &mdash the top girls, academically, athletically and socially &mdash form a pact to become pregnant in the Maine coastal village of Zaganack. Boasting old roots and rigid values, this company town for an upscale retailer is scandalized and all three [mothers] are devastated by their daughters' incomprehensible decision. At PC Wool, a division of the posh retailer that they created and run together, [the women] spend Saturdays dyeing yarn and trying to figure out why their girls traded in bright futures for teenage motherhood. Mother-daughter bonding, knitting and a ripped-from-the-headlines plot from Delinsky offers her fans what they want &mdash high drama and realism"

&mdashKirkus Reviews

Breast cancer has been a player in my life since my childhood, when my mother was diagnosed with the disease. In 1994, I was diagnosed myself. Fortunately, my cancer was caught early, picked up by a mammogram well before it was palpable. Being a private person, I told no one other than my family and a handful of friends.

Several years later, though, after readers went wild over a breast cancer survivor in Coast Road, I had an epiphany. I realized that, as a writer, I had the ears of millions of women. Telling them that I've had breast cancer and that I've recovered and am now stronger than ever—that’s a powerful message.

So I went public with my book, UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, and have donated every cent of my proceeds to breast cancer research. To date, I've been able to fund four years of a breast surgery fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. This fellowship trains surgical oncologists in research, hopefully offering returns in breast cancer research for decades to come.

This special book, UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, includes words from me and from 370+ other survivors. It is a tribute to positive thinking – a support group that offers all the practical little secrets to survival that friends tell friends, co-workers, lovers. As support groups go, it is unique in that it can be joined in total privacy and consulted at any time of day or night.

To learn more about UPLIFT or my charitable foundation, please visit my website's UPLIFT page.