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Daughters for a Time

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 791 ratings · 133 reviews

Feelings of abandonment fill Helen Francis at a too-young age when her mother dies and her father walks out. Left in the care of her older sister, Claire, she moves on but never truly heals. Now thirty-five and married, Helen is desperate to start a family of her own. After four unsuccessful years of trying to become pregnant, Helen accepts the idea of adoption.

When her ba...more

Paperback, 302 pages

Published April 24th 2012 by Amazon Publishing (first published January 1st 2012)

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May 26, 2012 Jo Anne B rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book that would touch every woman. It is primarily about a woman forced to face her infertility and undergo adoption. But it is also about relationships between mother and daughter, father and daughter, sisters, aunt and niece, and husband and wife. It is also about the big C- cancer, infidelity, and death. Is that enough drama for one book? It worked though because it was depressing and real. There wasn't a lot of happiness in this book. Your heart felt heavy the whole time. You can't...more This is a book that would touch every woman. It is primarily about a woman forced to face her infertility and undergo adoption. But it is also about relationships between mother and daughter, father and daughter, sisters, aunt and niece, and husband and wife. It is also about the big C- cancer, infidelity, and death. Is that enough drama for one book? It worked though because it was depressing and real. There wasn't a lot of happiness in this book. Your heart felt heavy the whole time. You can't help think about your own relationships in your life and what you would do in these situations while reading this book. I feel this author will help a lot of women struggling with these issues or help women to be more empathetic to other women who are.

What I liked best about this book was the insight the author provided into many things. First of all, the main character Helen's father cheated on her mother and she got ovarian cancer and died. Her father couldn't handle the guilt of the infidelity and the grief of the cancer so he left leaving Helen's older sister Claire in charge of taking care of her dying mother and little sister. How can you not feel sorry for both these daughters? What a tragic thing to happen. Helen didn't handle her mother's cancer well and just got angry at her mother for being that way. She was just a little girl and couldn't understand what was happening to her mother, so she was scared and afraid. But she was left with a lot of guilt when her mother died for acting the way she did toward her mother. Because she lost her mother at such a young age, she yearned to fill that mother-daughter void by having a child of her own. That was why she was even more devastated when she learned she would never have her own child. Poor Claire had to be so in control and together for the sake of her little sister Helen and herself. She was a caretaker to her dying mother and raise her sister. This changed the whole dynamic of her and Helen's relationship. It is like she lost a sister too when her mother died.

Helen had relationship issues with men because her father had left her. She expected and thought that it was ok for men to get what they wanted from her and leave her. That led her to get taken advantage of by many men. I never thought of it that way. It makes sense that you do what is familiar and most comfortable. "Love hurt, that is what a girl learned when her father left." When asked why he cheated on their mother, he said "The woman made me feel like I was young and wanted." These were great quotes.

I liked how Helen admitted that she didn't see the good in people like her husband Tim did. It seemed very appropriate given her history. It also made the story seem not as cheesy. Helen was a real person damaged by things that happened in her life. This made her easier to relate to then some woman that was perfect and happy all the time no matter what happened to her.

Helen learned that adopted children may have OCD tendencies and behavioral issues. This made her better able to handle situations that popped up while in public and then better able to talk with children about. Knowing what is really behind children's quirks is really key in parenting but too bad not every kid comes with a diagnoses.

This was a great book and I hope the author becomes a regular one to read.(less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. I was blessed to have a baby girl almost 3 years ago but have been dealing with secondary infertility for over 2 years. Most of my friends are working on starting or expanding their families and I'm constantly surprised at how many have struggled or are struggling with infertility. My husband and I have already discussed the possibility of adopting if it's not in the cards for us to have another biological child. Reading this book touched my heart and I spent several...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Michele Grant rated it 5 of 5 stars

Everyone has a bad day but when it seems as if nothing ever goes right in your life it adverserly affects you. This is a story of struggle to overcome feelings of loss and hopelessness and of courage, to break free from the past. Helen struggles with her past, her mother dies when she was fourteen, her father left home, and she was raised by a A+ type personality sister who could do no wrong. This is a difficult path for anyone to walk but one would hope that now that Helen has married her soul...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Denise Cuenin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book tells the story of a young female who is happily married but struggling with infertility. She is emotionally very tied to her older sister who is already a mother to a little toddler. Helen’s sister raised her after the death of their mother from cancer when Helen was fourteen. Their estranged father was financially supportive but emotional absent during this period. Helen eventually becomes reconciled to giving up her dream of being a birth mother to a baby girl. She and her nice-guy...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Helen and her husband Tim own a successful DC eatery, they’re a couple that seem to have it all until you look below the surface. Helen has survived her childhood, her fear of rejection and inadequacy, her mother’s death from Ovarian Cancer and her father’s desertion only by the steady hand of her older sister Claire. But even Claire has managed to get the one thing that Helen so desperately wants, a child of her own. As Helen struggles with infertility drugs and cycles, adoption is mentioned mo...more
Helen and her husband Tim own a successful DC eatery, they’re a couple that seem to have it all until you look below the surface. Helen has survived her childhood, her fear of rejection and inadequacy, her mother’s death from Ovarian Cancer and her father’s desertion only by the steady hand of her older sister Claire. But even Claire has managed to get the one thing that Helen so desperately wants, a child of her own. As Helen struggles with infertility drugs and cycles, adoption is mentioned more than once, but Helen can’t seem to get her head around not having her own. But the more she examines the brochures about all the abandoned girls in China, some left on roads only days old she feels her heart begin to melt and after a last failed attempt at pregnancy she and Tim set out on a journey to bring home a daughter not of their blood but of their heart. Helen is in for all kinds of surprises when she returns home with her new little girl and some of them won’t be easy to take, will she be able to handle the good with the bad, or will the ghosts of her past haunt her future as well.

Jennifer Handford’s debut novel Daughters for a Time is a poignant, beautiful and at times heartbreaking read. Her plot could be any town, any house USA where the inhabitants battle their infertility and what to do about it, but she gave me a little more as well as she brings to light the real problem of Chinese girl children being abandoned, in fact up to a million children are abandoned in China each year and the majority of them are healthy baby girls. Her dialogue is easy to read and I found it hard to put the novel down. Her characters are at times funny, at times sad and at times frustratingly bullheaded but they all seemed very real to me. There are a couple of things that set this novel apart from being just a piece of fiction, the moral is very real and the relationship between the sisters is spot-on. This novel will appeal to a multitude of readers, from romance lovers, family drama fans, to literary fiction enthusiasts. And if they’re like me they’ll all come away with the satisfaction of having read something that spoke to their heart.
Ms. Handford I look forward to our next journey together as this one was exceptional
(less)

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May 27, 2012 Lianne rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a Kindle Daily Deal but I honestly don't remember why it caught my attention. I'm not sure of the exact definition of chick lit (I hate the label) but I think I can safely say this qualifies.

Not my usual cup of tea but compelling. Helen has a great, nice-guy husband (Tim) and they adore each other. Their courtship and early marriage are romantic and idyllic until Helen sinks further and further into depression and feelings of inadequacy because she can't concieve a child.

I can't relate...more

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May 05, 2012 Krystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Helen has been wanting a child for the longest time, but seems unable to conceive. She knows she will not be truly happy unless she can be a mother, but she seems unwilling at first to adopt. When she finally takes a look at the adoption process, she discovers a whole new side to mothering that she wants to try. The plot complicates, however, as she learns that her beloved sister, Claire, who acted as a mother to her has cancer. Helen struggles to be both a supportive sister and a loving mother....more

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Jan 01, 2013 Wendy Hall rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a meaningful, impacting book. It details one woman's journey through infertility, adoption, working through past loss, and then grieving through a fresh loss. This was good for me to read as a foster parent and one I will use to complete and Independent Learner form for continuing education credit. Delving into the stress and strain that people have to go through with major loss, abandonment by parents, and raising a child who is not biologically their own is always helpful for us to fu...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Jessica Larson-Wang rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I gave this book 4 stars when probably I should have given it 3.5, so I guess I rounded up.

I had mixed feelings about his book. On the one hand, there are places where the prose really shines. I feel like Jennifer Handford actually can write.

However, this book needed a good editor. There were a lot of inaccuracies (I have never, ever, heard of being able to find a heartbeat on a 10 day old fetus) and the way she wrote about China was a bit off base. I'm super sensitive to China issues because I...more I gave this book 4 stars when probably I should have given it 3.5, so I guess I rounded up.

I had mixed feelings about his book. On the one hand, there are places where the prose really shines. I feel like Jennifer Handford actually can write.

However, this book needed a good editor. There were a lot of inaccuracies (I have never, ever, heard of being able to find a heartbeat on a 10 day old fetus) and the way she wrote about China was a bit off base. I'm super sensitive to China issues because I'm an expat who has been living in the country for 10 years, and I feel like a thoughtful writer shouldn't say things like "China doesn't want its girls" (paraphrasing here), not unless you want to make your characters sound igorant. There was a throwaway line about ultrasounds and how the adopted daughter's biological mother probably never got an ultrasound unless she was "forced" to get one in order to find out the sex. In fact, in China ultrasounds to find out the sex are against the law, so I'm not sure who Handford was implying would be doing the forcing. The government? A husband? The family? Anyhow, as someone who has adopted from China herself, I would think Handford would be interested in a more nuanced view of her daughter's country of birth.

I also felt, at times, that his book veered into the "stealth Christian lit" category. In fact, if you read the author's note at the end, she isn't even Catholic, so I don't really know why there had to be this whole "finding faith" storyline tacked in. From the point the main character starts mentioning God and her lack of faith compared to her mother/sister you know where it is headed and that she will eventually "see the light" and of course by the end she has named her daughter Grace and has come full circle. It was predictable. I would have bought it more if the main character had remained somewhat skeptical, if she'd considered the idea of faith, but didn't have this pat come to Jesus ending. In fact, the whole thing, despite being very sad, was pat. Too pat.

I've come across way more books recently with good stories but poor writing than books with poor plots/storylines and great writing, so that's why I grudgingly gave this book 4 stars but I hope Handford's next novel is a bit sharper overall. (less)

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May 15, 2012 Stacey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chicklit

This is an emotional read. It's hard to not connect with the characters and to feel the emotions that are being described. Recommend this book if you are in the mood for a tear-jerker.

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Jun 27, 2012 Estelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, 2012-new-releases, arc, tissue-box

Originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog:

“Maybe heartache was more normal than the absence of it.”

We are all too familiar with the feeling of experiencing the highest of highs when, out of nowhere, the lowest of lows comes sweeping in and knocks you completely off-balance.

In Daughters for a Time, Jennifer Handford handles that crushing heartbreak with sensitivity and raw emotion. Though I know the book is a work of fiction, Handford’s own experience with adoption elevated the book to a whole...more Originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog:

“Maybe heartache was more normal than the absence of it.”

We are all too familiar with the feeling of experiencing the highest of highs when, out of nowhere, the lowest of lows comes sweeping in and knocks you completely off-balance.

In Daughters for a Time, Jennifer Handford handles that crushing heartbreak with sensitivity and raw emotion. Though I know the book is a work of fiction, Handford’s own experience with adoption elevated the book to a whole new level of realism. There were moments I was so lost in the story I forgot I wasn’t reading a memoir.

Helen had a tumultuous childhood. Her mother dies of ovarian cancer when she is a freshman in high school, and around the same time, her father picks up and leaves. Her sister, Claire, is her support system, her mother, her everything for many years. But Helen remains curious about her father (who, as an adult, she “stalks”) and wants to be able to bring up stories about her mother without Claire brushing them off. At 35, as a successful baker and restaurant owner, even after experiencing her own love story with her husband (Tim), Helen still carries this baggage. Or the complete opposite of baggage, as she puts it. A hole in her heart. Throw in her and her husband’s repeated attempts conceive a child and it’s understandable why Helen is feeling withdrawn and lost.

The true rays of light in her life are Tim (he’s a ROCK), Claire, her niece, and when she can find quiet time in the kitchen. And after much soul-searching, the decision to go forth with an adoption of a baby girl from China. Helen is just counting the many days until their new daughter will be curling up in bed between her and her husband.

You see, this novel ranges from the happy sad to the sad sad. Helen is forced to come to terms with her past, even making moves to fix things with her dad, as well as accept her sister’s cancer diagnosis. Helen questions many times why things in life can’t go right all at the time same. Why can’t she have both her child and her sister? Why does it always have to be something? Handford writes with such honesty and has crafted an engrossing tale from every angle — the adoption, the insecurities she faces as both a mother and a mother of a child who was abandoned, the sisterly bond, even Helen reliving her angsty 14-year old self when her mother was very sick. While the book covers a good span of time, I wondered if there could have been more moments of showing and less telling. In 300 pages, I was connected enough to these characters that I probably could have read a hundred pages more if it meant some of the key moments were given more meat.

Though Daughters for a Time focuses on the bond between women as sisters, as mothers and daughters, and as friends, it lacked a bit of male perspective in some areas. For a long time, I wondered if Claire was even married. And Helen’s husband was such a great character too but he felt absent from scenes when I knew he was standing there, sharing the moment… except he was silenced. A little more testosterone would have balanced out many emotions in the story and made it even more relatable. I wanted Handford to dig deeper.

Despite minor qualms, this novel genuinely tugged at my heart strings. There’s never a perfect time to pick up a book that screams “disease” and “infertility” but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t experience them. Handford takes every day, powerful issues and skillfully, weaves in bits and pieces of hope even at the darkest moments. It’s surprisingly fast paced for such heavy content too; I found myself thinking about it a lot during my reading breaks. At the core,Daughters of a Timeis about the families we have and the families we create, the ebb and flow of the healing process, and the challenges life throws us and how we react to them.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Sheilah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was actually a good book. I found it while browsing my Kindle and figured I couldn't go too wrong, since it was fairly inexpensive.

Helen appears to be a typical infertile character at first, but there are layers to Helen that give her more depth than simply wanting a baby. Her grief rings true.

None of the characters ever seem to want for money, despite the fact that none of them appear to really work. Tim owns a busy, up-and-coming restaurant in D.C. and yet he can leave any time he wants?...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fiction

Daughters for a Time is a family story of how our families are not always blood related but they are our families all the same. It's a story about how not all families are alike but they can still come together when needed. Sometimes family is all you have to get through the really, really tough times and it can be difficult to figure that out.I was very interested in this book because it tackled the idea and the decision to adopt. I personally think that adoption is really cool. There are so ma...more Daughters for a Time is a family story of how our families are not always blood related but they are our families all the same. It's a story about how not all families are alike but they can still come together when needed. Sometimes family is all you have to get through the really, really tough times and it can be difficult to figure that out.I was very interested in this book because it tackled the idea and the decision to adopt. I personally think that adoption is really cool. There are so many children out there in the world that really could use a loving home. This book sort of gives an inside picture about what it might be like to adopt a child. There's more storylines within the book but the main one does have to deal with adoption.

Helen and Tim try to get pregnant for several years before Helen eventually gives in to her husband's suggestion that they try to adopt a baby from China. I know that's a really difficult (and very personal) decision to make but Helen seems to drag her feet too much. I had a really hard time getting behind her feet dragging though. I wanted Helen to realize that it's about the love that you can give a child and not whether or not you actually carried the child in your womb. I had to keep reminding myself that there are people out there that do not agree with that sentiment and that it's okay that they don't see it the same way that I do. Helen eventually comes around to the idea and I ended up liking her character a lot by the end because she finally seemed to get that it is all about love and coming together to be a family.

This is a great book for people that don't mind a tough story and don't mind being a little sad through a book. I definitely don't mind this. In the case of Daughters for a Time, I felt that the sadness was definitely warranted, which is why I was totally okay with it. This story will definitely tug on your heartstrings a little bit.

Bottom line: Contemporary fiction readers who don't mind tough subjects will enjoy this book.

(less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Lorraine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It is the story of relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters, and fathers. It was a heart pulling story of infertility and the painful struggles of Helen who wants a child more than anything. It is also the story of the relationship between Helen and her sister Claire who lost their mother to ovarien cancer. Claire raises Helen after the mother's death. It also brings in the charater of Larry, their father, who left his daughters when their mother/his wife was dying...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable read. It follows the story of a young couple as they struggle with infertility, finally decide upon adoption, and create a family. And while it isn't the family that Helen initially envisioned for herself, it's the family that she was meant to have. Some parts of the book definitely touched me more than others, from a personal experience level. I did find some of the food descriptions to be a little too much at some points though, or maybe I'm just jealous that I can't just...more

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May 21, 2013 Missy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting through the first half of this book. Then last night, til midnight, I read the last half. I couldn't put it down for some reason. I am not sure how this ended up in my to read books but I am glad it did. It is really heavy at times. I don't think I have actually ever cried from a book as much as I did this one. That is some great writing. And while it was sad, I still gave it four stars just because it had the ability to stir those emotions that much. And I now think th...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Kolleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sisterhood, tear-jerker

This is a story about Helen. Growing up, she lost her mother to cancer and her sister Claire raised her. As an adult, she is struggling with infertility and relying on the strength of her sister to pull her through, until the unthinkable happens and Claire gets the same cancer that their mother died from.

From the first page, I was hooked. The author's account of miscarriage and infertility were probably the most perfect way to write about the subjects and really make the message hit home:
"With m...more This is a story about Helen. Growing up, she lost her mother to cancer and her sister Claire raised her. As an adult, she is struggling with infertility and relying on the strength of her sister to pull her through, until the unthinkable happens and Claire gets the same cancer that their mother died from.

From the first page, I was hooked. The author's account of miscarriage and infertility were probably the most perfect way to write about the subjects and really make the message hit home:
"With my nose pressed against the glass of motherhood, I was on the outside looking in, consumed with a want so big I would wake in the night, craving the fleshiness of chubby cheeks and equally chubby thighs. I had it all planned out. I knew what kind of mom I wanted to be. I'd name her Samantha, but I'd call her Sam, Sammy, Samarooni. I'd give her a sloppy, wet, suck-on-her-bottom-lip kisses. I'd blow raspberries on her tummy while she convulsed in giggles. My husband and I would laze around with her in bed on Saturday mornings, squishing each others, arms and legs crisscrossed and tangled. What a big girl you are! I would coo, kissing the bottoms of her feet. What a big girl! In the early years of trying, I had become conspicuously present at the house of my older sister, bouncing her new baby on my knee, logging each and every moment with my niece as on-the-job training for what lay ahead. I furtively tore recipes from Family Circle and Woman's Day at doctor's offices, stowing away in my bottom desk drawer recipes for jack-o-lantern cookies, gummy worm pudding, and cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. My sister and I would mother together, a tag team of kisses, juice boxes, and promises. Years passed though, and then I became that woman, the desperate one. The one who overstepped her boundaries, the one in the checkout line who couldn't help but touch a strange baby's foot dangling from her mother's cart, just to get a quick fix of that silken skin. An anger and sadness consumed me, but of course, the babies themselves were always expemted from my fury. Them, I still loved. It was thier mothers, those women who could do the one thing I couldn't, who I grew to despise. More years passed and still nothing. A single pink line, a viscious swirl of blood, an ache in my heart that nearly split me in two. "Not you", my body would cackle, "anyone but you."

I got a little bit lost during the middle of the book, with the adoption, and Larry, and and Claire's cancer, but Handford brought it back in a big way. The ending was beautiful and very creative. And of course, I love books about sisters. A really good book, especially considering it was Handford's first novel.(less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Maryellen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes a book comes along and the words of fiction mirror the truths of your life. DAUGHTERS FOR A TIME by Jennifer Handford, for me, is just that kind of a book. This debut novel finds our main character, Helen, facing infertility; fears of abandonment; grief for the mother she lost to ovarian cancer; fear that her own health will be determined by the result of a genetic blood test; and the uncertainty of a possible adoption. Helen has a special bond with her sister, Claire, who raised her a...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Jinky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: provided-for-review, read-in-2012

I sobbed hard and often. The kind of sobbing that left me short of breath. It wasn't tears of pity but of empathy. I was feeling the ache that Helen's character was going through as I read her account of her struggles with infertility. I rejoiced with her when she was able to successfully adopt a daughter. Then I anguished again with her when she heard the news that her six-year-older sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The very sister that raised her since fourteen years of age after the...more

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May 04, 2012 Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

A book that tugs at your heart strings and makes you realize how unlucky life can be. Helen, the younger sister of two, who loses her mom in the middle of her teenage years is forced to live with her older college sister as their father has left at the same time that their mother succumbs to cancer. With major trust and "leaving" issues, Helen is having a hard time accepting her infertility issues and the lucky woman who has a husband to stand and support her through it all.

I was instantly grabb...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Miranda Diaz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, dark-and-twisty, family, fiction, motherhood, parenthood, religion, sociology, women

"Maybe heartache is more normal than the absence of it."

This book is laced with stories of pain, loss, and emptiness, but I found a beauty in it. Maybe coming from a broken home and seeing the forgiveness, grace and strength that can be born in the midst of the most terrible agony. To love is to embrace the willingness to experience pain and for the chance for something so much more powerful. Not always uplifting, but I found inspiration in the little moments of humanity in this one.

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May 27, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

SPOILER ALERT: Yes I cried. More than once. But why could Helen so easily carry a baby to term with Claire's egg through in-vitro? This begs the question as to why she just didn't try this earlier with her own or a donor egg. I also thought that Claire's death was rushed and forced. Claire didn't need to be sacrificd to save the story. Helen could have been developed in so many ways, but in order to help Helen fulfill a need she didn't know she had Claire had to die. Too contrived

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May 23, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, china, adoption

I was pleasantly surprised to find Handford's novel dealt quite sensitively with infertility, adoption from China, and cancer. I have experience with all three, and was not expecting such accuracy. She also had some very poignant moments, without lapsing into sentimentality.

The middle was a bit slow, but it was worth pushing through. The ultimate themes of forgiveness and family ties are what you make of them wove throughout the book. Could not put the book down in the end, and cried along with...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Denise rated it 3 of 5 stars

I must be cold hearted, because this book didn't touch me as it has other readers. Yes, the book was about women, but some characters could have been developed more. You never hear of Ross until his wife dies - how can you feel bad for him? I never felt connected to Larry either - somewhat to Tim, but he was working the entire time and apparently had no other interests. There were also some instances where the focus was too much on food, which didn't help the story in any way. I don't think Sama...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I did enjoy this book. It was well written and I liked the story. It was kind of predictable but still good. It was about the relationship between 2 sisters and how they coped with their mom dying when they were young and having their father leave because he could not cope with it. The older daughter ends being responsible for the younger sister at a young age. The twists and turns of their lives are what the book is about. I would recommend the book.

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Jun 02, 2012 Pmcdnld2 rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel was 1 of 3 selected in the Amazon breakout novelist comtest. Helen was 13 when her mom died and her father left. She was raised by her older sister and never got over the events of her youth. Now she is struggling with infertility, trying to reestablish contact with her dad, adopting a baby from China when her sister gets cancer. I liked the book even when I found some of Helen's attitude not believable or just too immature.

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Jun 14, 2012 Shari rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I gave it a 4 because it had some language and it bugs me when the timing is off on a book- just a pet peeve of mine! (It starts in 2011 and goes for a few years after that). It deals with a lot of depressing issues such as infertility, cancer, and death but it was surprisingly upbeat and I finished it in one setting which isn't saying much since I finish most books the same day I start them!

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Jul 18, 2012 Donna Burtwistle-Popplewell rated it 2 of 5 stars

This novel explores many topics connected to women--infertility, adoption, illness and divorce. Hanford covers many issues through the trials and tribulations of one woman who decides, after years of infertility, to adopt a girl from China. Supported by her older sister who raised her after their own mother's death, sisterhood is a powerful force in their lives, until tragedy strikes again.

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Apr 12, 2013 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think if I could give this book 3 1/2 stars I would. I really liked it in the beginning with her depths of depression from trying to have a baby for 4 years and every month being disappointed. Each month thinking a new fertility drug hoping it would make the difference. When the storyline changed a bit I still liked it, but it went from me starting the book thinking "I LOVE this book" to finishing it with "that was a pretty good book."

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Oct 23, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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“Maybe heartache was more normal than the absence of it.” — 8 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13483959-daughters-for-a-time?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353116652l/13483959.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13483959-daughters-for-a-time?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Daughters for a Time by Jennifer Handford[/url]

Daughters for a Time

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