Not My Daughter

A pregnancy pact between three teenaged girls puts their mothers'' love to the ultimate test in this explosive new novel from Barbara Delinsky a first-rate storyteller who creates characters as familiar as your neighbors. (Boston Globe) . . When Susan Tate''s seventeen-year-old daughter Lily announces she is pregnant Susan is stunned. A single mother she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily and herself.. . Then comes word of two more pregnancies among high school juniors who happen to be Lily''s best friends-and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school she has always been held up as a role model of hard work and core values. Now her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. As Susan struggles with the implications of her daughter''s pregnancy her job financial independence and long-fought-for dreams are all at risk.. . The emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in this emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness. Once again Barbara Delinsky has given us a powerful novel one that asks a central question: What does it take to be a good mother?