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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Nov 2002, 260 pages
Paperback:
Sep 2002, 260 pages
When the justice system fails her daughter, one courageous mother takes matters into her own hands. In a wrenching race against time, the safety of one child becomes entangled in the theatrics of Family Court, bottled-up family dynamics, media frenzy, and the pressure of the political machine.
Motherhood.
The most profound human experience is being put to the test.
PUPPET CHILD
Rachel Belmore is a poised, determined, yet vulnerable advertising executive fighting to bar her charming former husband, Dr. Wesley Belmore, from molesting their five-year-old daughter, Ellie. Caught in a nightmarish justice system, Rachel's odyssey takes a turn for the worse when she loses her battle in the court of Judge McGillian. The judge, a gregarious man who believes that he applies the law without prejudice, is nevertheless trapped in his biases, which throw him into the eye of a media storm.
His young, easy-going law clerk, Phil Crawford, hides a dark secret as he sets out on a mission to change the fate of children betrayed by the justice system. The compassionate Phil forces his way into Rachel's plight, but fails to dissuade the Judge from his harsh viewing of her case.
To save Ellie, Rachel must take the law into her hands and suffer the consequences.
Against the backdrop of media frenzy, corporate indifference, political corruption, family treachery, terrorism and judicial callousness, the story unfolds in blazingly sure-penned prose to reveal loyalty, the kindness of strangers, devotion, passion, and friendship. In a riveting tale of surprising twists, Puppet Child is a moving tribute to a mother who remains dignified, honest and loving as she changes the rules.
Prologue
Rachel Belmore was jolted from a dream, awash with dread. "The baby!" the words crashed against her temples. Her breathing came in gasps.
Still groggy from the pill Wes had given her, she sat upright in bed and listened. No sound reached her. Wes, careful not to disturb her, must have slipped out of bed and closed the bedroom door she insisted on keeping open.
She dropped her head back on the pillow. Since Ellie's birth eleven months before, Rachel's sleep only skirted the periphery of dreams. The night before, she had lain in the dark next to the sleeping Wes, her ears attuned to any rustle coming from the nursery, her tense body ready to leap with the slightest new sound--or after a prolonged silence.
"How do you expect to keep up your strength without sleep?" Wes asked in the morning when she dashed out the door for a nine o'clock client meeting. She had been up since seven, feeding and playing with Ellie. "Certainly not with a full-time career."
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