Jacquelyn Mitchard Books In Order

The Deep End of the Ocean

A 1 New York Times bestseller, Mitchard’s suspenseful and moving novel is now available in trade paperbackFew first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother’s worst nightmare the disappearance of a child as it explores a family’s struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers’ hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.’Riveting…
twists that will spin you around.’ Newsweek’A drama with the tension of a thriller that moves deeply into the emotional territory of family ties.’ People’Take a deep breath…
. This riveting story won’t let you come up for air.’ US magazine

No Time to Wave Goodbye

New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard captured the heart of a nation with The Deep End of the Ocean, her celebrated debut novel about mother Beth Cappadora, a child kidnapped, a family in crisis. Now, in No Time to Wave Goodbye, the unforgettable Cappadoras are in peril once again, forced to confront an unimaginable evil.

It has been twenty two years since Beth Cappadora’s three year old son Ben was abducted. By some miracle, he returned nine years later, and the family began to pick up the pieces of their lives. But their peace has always been fragile: Ben returned from the deep end as another child and has never felt entirely at ease with the family he was born into. Now the Cappadora children are grown: Ben is married with a baby girl, Kerry is studying to be an opera singer, and Vincent has emerged from his troubled adolescence as a fledgling filmmaker.

The subject of Vincent s new documentary, No Time to Wave Goodbye, shakes Vincent s unsuspecting family to the core; it focuses on five families caught in the tortuous web of never knowing the fate of their abducted children. Though Beth tries to stave off the torrent of buried emotions, she is left wondering if she and her family are fated to relive the past forever.

The film earns tremendous acclaim, but just as the Cappadoras are about to celebrate the culmination of Vincent s artistic success, what Beth fears the most occurs, and the Cappadoras are cast back into the past, revisiting the worst moment of their lives with only hours to find the truth that can save a life. High in a rugged California mountain range, their rescue becomes a desperate struggle for survival.

No Time to Wave Goodbye is Jacquelyn Mitchard at her best, a spellbinding novel about family loyalty, and love pushed to the limits of endurance.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Midnight Twins

Jacquelyn Mitchard’s spell binding tale of twins with special powers

Meredith and Mallory Brynn are mirror twins born on either side of midnight one snowy New Y ear s Eve. They have always been inseparable. But after they are nearly killed in a mysterious fire on their thirteenth birthday, the bond that has always joined them unravels. They begin to have visions and dreams that reveal the deep secrets kept by the people around them. Meredith and Mallory realize they have each been given a gift: Mallory can see deep into the past; Meredith can see the future. But when they discover that one boy is not what they imagined, their lives will be changed forever. If they can survive…

Look Both Ways

In the second book of the Midnight Twins trilogy, Meredith and Mallory Brynn are finally coming to terms with their special gifts: Meredith to see into the past, Mallory to see into the future. But they never expect that their powers will reveal danger so close to home.

Mallory must help her best friend, Eden, find the strength to defy her destiny as a shape shifter, before Eden gets hurt or hurts somebody else. And Merry has her own friends to worry about when her visions reveal trouble brewing on the cheerleading squad in the form of Kim Jellico.

Both Mallory and Meredith must join together to rescue their friends before it’s too late.

Watch for Me by Moonlight

In the third book of the Midnight Twins trilogy, Mally and Merry’s supernatural dream visions are put to the test when their baby brother is kidnapped and by someone who has grown very close to the Brynn family. Meanwhile, Meredith is distracted by the strange new boy in town. But there s one problem with her new romance: he s a ghost from the past, a boy who actually died in the Vietnam War and is struggling with his soul. Mallory must help her sister let go of a love that was never meant to be and the twins must come together and use their powers to save their baby brother.

The Most Wanted

A naive teenage girl in south Texas falls in love with her prison pen pal. The object of her affection a charming, dangerously handsome young felon who romances her through his letters to her. After a love affair that defies all conventions, they marry and have a child while the father is still imprisoned. But when he escapes prison to claim his wife and child, what started as a passionate romance turns into a terrifying ordeal of obsession and desire. The young girls only hope is a fiercely dedicated public aid lawyer who is more of a mother figure than the girl has ever known, and the only one who can avert disaster for mother and child!

A Theory of Relativity

Jacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, launched the Oprah’s Book Club and riveted millions of readers across the country. Now comes A Theory of Relativity, Mitchard’s most compelling and beautifully written novel yet. At twenty four, Gordon McKenna thinks he’s already heard the worst news of his life when he learns that his sister Georgia is fatally ill. Then Georgia and her husband die in a car accident, leaving behind their baby daughter, Keefer. Gordon and his parents are able to survive their sorrow only by devoting themselves to the care of the beloved one year old. But the decision of who will raise Keefer is far from over, and soon Gordon’s most basic assumptions about his family will be challenged in ways so provocative that he will be driven to disbelief and then to outrage. The ordeal will test the bonds of this closely knit family, challenging even love’s ultimate capacity to heal. Performed by Juliette Parker

Twelve Times Blessed

Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of America’s best loved storytellers. Fans adore her novels for their exquisite, gripping stories about family bonds. Now this master of the drama of daily life offers readers a different kind of boy meets girl tale, by turns frank and playful, that ponders the question: Can love conquer marriage?It is True Dickinson’s forty third birthday, and her best friends have gathered on this snowy night in Cape Cod at a trendy neighborhood restaurant to celebrate. True has never felt more alone. It’s been eight years since the death of her husband, a pilot who, ironically, died in a car crash, leaving her to raise their son on her own. Both her son and her small business are thriving, and True’s life is full. The success of her company, the love of her friends, and the proximity of her mother for better and for worse leave her with very little time for reflection, but if not now, when? Coming up on forty three makes True realize that there is an empty space in her life that friends and family cannot fill. She feels her youth and beauty slipping away, and the possibility for romance has never seemed more remote. But everything will change the moment True and her beloved assistant, Isabelle, slide into a snow filled ditch on the drive home. Saved by a young man she met earlier at the restaurant, True comes face to face with the opportunity to let love back into her life that is, if she can overcome her own fears, and if these two spirits can find a way to tame each other’s wild hearts and to curb their supremely independent natures. Twelve Times Blessed is the story of one year of transformation in a woman’s life, and an unforgettable tale of the perils and pleasures of love in the modern age.

Christmas, Present

A fourteenth wedding anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, Elliott Banner knows, but it’s not exactly a landmark year like fifteen, or twenty, when he plans to take his wife, Laura, to Paris. But when a headache on the drive home from their anniversary date two days before Christmas turns out to be more than a migraine, he wishes he had celebrated every year as though it were their last. In this poignant, touching, uplifting story, a woman calmly gathers her family around her during the Christmas holiday to celebrate their lives together both past and future and to truly count their blessings. A family history unfolds in a single night in this deeply affecting story that speaks volumes about love, trust, and letting go a perfect holiday read that underscores the true meaning of the season.

Starring Prima!: The Mouse of the Ballet Jolie

From the day she was born in the piano backstage at the Ballet Jolie, it was obvious that Prima was destined for greatness. Her family fully expects her to become the lead dancer with the American Ballet Rodente. Such an honor should be enough for any mouselet, but Prima has even bigger plans. She won’t be satisfied until she can share her talent with all creatures even humans. Now, as any mouse with half a brain knows, the last thing you want to do around a human is to draw attention to yourself, but will that stop Prima? Not on your tutu! Jacquelyn Mitchard brings to her first novel for young readers the same eye for detail, ear for dialogue and affection for characters that made The Deep End of the Ocean and Twelve Times Blessed bestsellers.

The Breakdown Lane

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes the readers of her newest novel on a wry and moving journey of loss and healing.

Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living every Sunday she doles it out in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues. Having worked creatively to keep her twenty year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting and to be a good mother, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a ‘sabbatical’ from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children behind. But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent. Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo before it’s too late. As the known world sinks precariously from view, the clan must navigate their way through the shoals of love, guilt, and betrayal. Together, with the help of Leo’s parents and Julie’s best friend, they work their way back to solid ground and a new definition of family.

No one illuminates modern love, marriage, and parenting better than Jacquelyn Mitchard. Written with her trademark poignancy, humor, and insight, The Breakdown Lane is her most moving, eloquent, and life affirming work yet.

Rosalie, My Rosalie: The Tale of a Duckling

Henry Marie wants a pet so badly, she can almost taste it. She would be happy with a pony, or a kitten, or even a baby brother. But her parents always have some excuse: They can’t keep a pony in their neighborhood. A kitten would make Henry and her father sneeze. Her parents keep pointing out that they do have a dog. But Scout is her father’s and Scout’s slow and, well, boring. He won’t chase a ball or anything What Henry wants — what Henry needs — is a pet of her very own. Just when she has about given up hope, Henry’s father comes home with a fuzzy little yellow head and a rosy beak peeking out of the top pocket of his overalls. Henry immediately falls in love with the duckling’s sweet, smiling face and gives her the prettiest name she can think of: Rosalie. And that’s when the trouble begins.

Cage of Stars

The author of ‘The Deep End of the Ocean’ delivers a compelling, emotionally charged tale of tragedy, revenge, and redemption. Twelve year old Veronica Swan’s idyllic life in a close knit Mormon community is shattered when her two younger sisters are brutally murdered. Although her parents find the strength to forgive the deranged killer, Scott Early, Veronica cannot do the same. Years later, she sets out alone to avenge her sisters’ deaths, dropping her identity and severing ties in the process. As she closes in on Early, Veronica will discover the true meaning of sin and compassion, before she makes a decision that will change her and her family’s lives forever.

Still Summer

Mitchard’s ‘Still Summer‘ plunges into terror

By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY

Secure your life preserver. Tie yourself to the mast. It’s late August, but it’s Still Summer, and Jacquelyn Mitchard is taking you on a thrill ride you won’t forget.

Mitchard made her mark in the literary world in 1996 when TheDeep End of the Ocean was chosen as the first pick for Oprah Winfrey’s now legendary book club. Since then, she has written six other novels, but none matches the suspenseful pitch of Still Summer.

It’s a tale of terror on the high seas, but this is no Pirates of the Caribbean wannabe.

Readers know something terrible is going to happen, but Mitchard ratchets up the suspense by allowing her story to unfold at a leisurely pace. She painstakingly fleshes out her characters, because as readers will discover, their temperaments and personalities are as crucial to the story as the mounting disasters.

Tracy Kyle, Holly Solvig and Olivia Montefalco, lifelong friends in their early 40s, charter a yacht and two man crew for a sailing vacation that will take them from St. Thomas to Grenada.

The trip starts out as an innocent adventure in paradise until two accidents in quick succession strand the women without their crew. What else can go wrong? In a word, everything. The engine conks out, the sails are torn, lack of electricity spoils their food and limits their drinking water and then there’s the injury to Holly’s leg.

Nature’s fury, murderous drug dealers and, possibly most deadly of all, their own frailties and secrets are added to the list.

Readers will wring their hands with frustration, weep with sadness and second guess the choices these women make. But since characters must do the bidding of the authors who create them, we can only sit back or sit on the edge of our seats and let Mitchard’s terror filled tale wash over us.

Now You See Her

Hope has it all: brains, beauty, and acceptance at Starwood, a prestigious arts prep school. A mere sophomore, she has won the lead in Romeo and Juliet, beating out seniors for the role seniors who have been in movies and on Broadway! And with handsome Logan as her Romeo onstage and off, her life couldn’t be more perfect. So why would this talented teen throw everything away? Why would she fake her own abduction? Hope wants to explain what really happened, and gradually the truth comes out: Maybe her life wasn’t that perfect after all. In her first novel for young adults, national bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes us into a world where appearance is everything, and nothing is exactly as it seems.

All We Know of Heaven

Bridget Flannery and Maureen O’Malley have been BFFs since forever. Then a brief moment of inattention on an icy road leaves one girl dead and the other in a coma, battered beyond recognition. Family and friends mourn one friend’s loss and pray for the other’s recovery. Then the doctors discover they have made a terrible mistake. The girl who lived is the one who everyone thought had died. Based on a true case of mistaken identity, All We Know of Heaven is a universal story that no one can read unmoved: a drama of ordinary people caught up in an unimaginable tragedy and of the healing power of hope and love.

Baby Bat’s Lullaby

Mama and her precious baby bat wake up at dusk ready to take a flight into the sky. Together they soar and explore, relishing each tender moment spent with each other until bedtime at dawn. New York Times best selling author Jacquelyn Mitchard’s soothing bedtime rhyme and Julia Noonan’s soaring images capture the simple joys and special love shared by a mother and child. Ages 3 6

Ready, Set, School!

Rory is scared of being away from home for the first time, especially when his sleeping bag is so comfortable…
but he doesn’t want his parents treating him like a baby kit anymore. He’ll get to stay up until morning if he sleeps over at his cousins’ house. It could even help Rory conquer his biggest fear: starting Remarkable Raccoon Suburban School, which means nights away from his folks. Is Rory ready to show everyone including his parents that he’s ready to go anywhere?

Eagle Eyes

In this charming story, Kofi, an 11 year old boy from Ghana, lives for one thing only: soccer. He dreams of winning the Under 17 trophy for his country, so he begins to neglect school work, ignore his chores at home, and disregard other responsibilities except to his team. His only goal is to be a professional player and earn a lot of money, but he never acknowledges he might need an education. One day Kofi goes with his mother to visit his grandfather, who has been blind for a long time. Kofi’s uncle, an ophthalmologist, along with an American co worker, performs cataract surgery on his grandfather. The operation is a starting point the grandfather can now see his grandson for the first time and Kofi realizes that his uncle s talent, which requires an education, just might be more important than soccer.

The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship

For years, readers of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have been calling their mothers, boyfriends, and sisters to say, ‘See? That’s exactly what I meant!’ Now syndicated nationwide, Jacquelyn Mitchard’s column, ‘The Rest of Us,’ charms her readers each week. In this wise and sparkling volume that collects more than a decade of dispatches, Mitchard’s longtime readers and fans of her bestselling novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, can share the exuberant wisdom of a woman and a writer who has seen it all. In the spirit of Judith Viorst, Anna Quindlen, and the late Erma Bombeck, Mitchard reaches for the heart and mind simultaneously. Spanning everything from gun laws and garage sales to teen telephone habits, The Rest of Us brings together the best of many years of writing and living. Mitchard’s novel The Most Wanted will be published by Signet in June 1999 The movie The Deep End of the Ocean will be released Spring 1999 The Deep End of the Ocean was the first selection of Oprah’s Book Club