Summer's Child »

Diane is the award-winning author of more than 12 novels. Her books focus on relationships between men and women, parents and children, sisters and brothers, and friends. Her books, which have been set in such locales as Southern California, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the caverns in the Shenandoah Valley, often feature a combination of family drama, romance, intrigue and suspense.

Diane was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, and attended Glassboro State University. She also lived for many years in both San Diego and northern Virginia, where she still resides.

Diane received her master's degree in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Prior to her writing career, she was a medical social worker at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego and Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. She also was a psychotherapist in private practice in Alexandria, Va., working primarily with adolescents. Diane's background in psychology and her work in hospitals has given her a keen interest in understanding the way people tick, as well as the background necessary to create real, living, breathing characters.

Several years ago, Diane was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which has changed the way she works: She occasionally types using voice recognition software. She feels fortunate that her arthritis is not more severe and that she is able to enjoy everyday activities as well as keep up with a busy travel schedule.

When not writing, Diane enjoys fixing up her house, playing with her three-legged Bernese Mountain Dog, Bruin, getting together with her friends and grown stepdaughters, and singing with an interfaith gospelchoir.

Early on the morning of her eleventh birthday, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea—an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria.

Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal young woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria's childhood and now a television producer, returns at Shelly's request to do a story about the circumstances surrounding her birth, something precarious shifts in the small town of Kill Devil Hills.

The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as closely guarded secrets and the sins of that long-ago summer begin to surface. Piece by piece, the mystery of summer's child is being exposed, a mystery that no one involved—not Shelly, Daria, not even Rory—is prepared to face.

Publishers Weekly

Twenty years after 11-year-old Daria Cato found a baby abandoned on a beach in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., she is still very much a part of the child's life. Daria's parent's had adopted the infant, but now they are dead and she has accepted responsibility for Shelly--who has grown into a beautiful, slightly handicapped young woman. Without consulting Daria, Shelly contacts Rory Taylor, host of TV's True Life Stories, to ask his help in finding her birth mother. Rory has a personal interest in Shelly's story since he'd been one of the many teenagers hanging out on the beach the summer the baby was found. Daria, meanwhile, has been keeping to herself the crush she's had on Rory for years--along with Shelly's true story. Here, as in previous offerings, Chamberlain (Breaking the Silence) creates a captivating tale populated with haunting characters. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.