Chosen: A Novel - Hardcover

Hoffman, Chandra

3.41

1,271 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061974293 ISBN 13: 9780061974298

Publisher: Harper, 2010

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

“Gritty and suspenseful, Chosen draws us into the obstacle-strewn path of domestic adoption.”
—Juliette Fay, author of Shelter Me

A young caseworker increasingly entangled in the lives of adoptive and birth parents faces life-altering choices when an extortion attempt goes horribly wrong in Chosen. Written in the spirit of Jodi Picoult and Anna Quindlen, Chosen is an extraordinary debut novel from Chandra Hoffman that deals with the controversial subject of adoption while providing a riveting read that will equally ensnare lovers of suspense, domestic drama, and literary fiction.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Back Cover:

In Chosen, a young caseworker becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of adoptive and birth parents, with devastating results.

It all begins with a fantasy: the caseworker in her "signing paperwork" charcoal suit standing alongside beaming parents cradling their adopted newborn, set against a fluorescent-lit delivery-room backdrop. It's this blissful picture that keeps Chloe Pinter, director of the Chosen Child's domestic-adoption program, happy while juggling the high demands of her boss and the incessant needs of both adoptive and biological parents.

But the very job that offers her refuge from her turbulent personal life and Portland's winter rains soon becomes a battleground involving three very different couples: the Novas, well-off college sweethearts who suffered fertility problems but are now expecting their own baby; the McAdoos, a wealthy husband and desperate wife for whom adoption is a last chance; and Jason and Penny, an impoverished couple who have nothing—except the baby everyone wants. When a child goes missing, dreams dissolve into nightmares, and everyone is forced to examine what he or she really wants and where it all went wrong.

Told from alternating points of view, Chosen reveals the desperate nature of desire across social backgrounds and how far people will go to get the one thing they think will be the answer.

About the Author:

Chandra Hoffman has been an orphanage relief worker in Romania, a horse trainer in the Caribbean, a short-order cook in a third- world hospital, the director of a U.S. adoption program, and an event planner for Philadelphia’s Main Line elite. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and their three young children. Chosen is her first novel.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.