BOOK REVIEW: The Courage Tree

Diane Chamberlain was another author who I felt would be a good vacation read. Her Keeper of the Light trilogy had been good and I wanted to try her again. The summary on the back of THE COURAGE TREE sounded very good. This sounded like something with possibilities.

Sophie Donohue is an eight-year-old with a rare disease. She wants so much to be like other little girls. Her mother, Janine, has enrolled her in a controversial treatment and she seems to be doing well enough that Janine allows her to go on a weekend camping trip with her Brownie troop. Janine’s ex-husband and his parents are very much against both plans. When Janine goes to pick up Sophie at the end of the weekend the car that she had been riding in has disappeared. It is vital that Sophie gets the medication that is keeping her alive.

Sophie has found refuge deep in the remote forest with an unusual woman named Zoe. Zoe wants nothing to do with the little girl. She has developed an isolated place to protect her own daughter who has escaped from prison. Zoe finds herself torn between saving her own daughter, a convicted murderer, or an eight-year-old who will die without medical help.

This could have been a great story and I am not sure why it missed the mark. I found much of the plot to be too contrived. For example, Zoe was a beautiful, well-known movie star, accustomed to living well, to be taken care of. To believe that she set up housekeeping in a remote, run down mountain shack was difficult. Too many parts of the story of the plot just did not move well. This is not a book that I would recommend.