A Novel
by Julie Maloney
When eight-year-old Vinni Stewart disappears from a Jersey shore town, Maddy, her distraught single mother, begins a desperate search for her daughter.
Maddy's five-year journey leads her to a bakery in Brooklyn, where she stumbles upon something terrifying. Ultimately, her artist neighbor Evelyn reconnects Maddy to her passion for painting and guides her to a life transformed through art. Detective John D'Orfini sees more than a kidnapping in the plot-thickening twists of chance surrounding Vinni's disappearance, but his warnings to stay away from the investigation do not deter Maddy, even when her search puts her in danger. When the Russian Mafia warns her to stop sniffing into their business, Maddy must make a choice whether to save one child—even if it might jeopardize saving her own.
"Maloney highlights the risks a mother will take to save her child, and the will and determination to never give up hope, in an intriguing literary-thriller/women's-fiction crossover that will appeal to readers looking for a sophisticated puzzle." —Booklist
"In A Matter of Chance, author Maloney offers a journey through grief and betrayal by reconnecting to life through the expression of art. This gorgeous book explores and evokes desperate love, continued hope, and, finally, a way through to a surprising conclusion. You won't want to stop reading this compelling novel until you turn the very last page." —Ann Garvin, USA Today best-selling author of I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around
This information about A Matter of Chance was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Julie Maloney is a former dancer/choreographer and artistic director of her own modern dance company. She is a poet whose work has been published in many literary journals. Her book of poems, Private Landscape, was published in 2007. As founder/director of Women Reading Aloud, a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of women writers, she has been leading workshops and writing retreats in the US, Greece, and France since 2003. A Matter of Chance is her debut novel. She lives outside of New York City in Morris County, NJ.

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