Diane Chamberlain Books in Order

Diane Chamberlain is the New York Times, USA Today, and London Times bestselling author of 30 adult fiction books ranging from romantic suspense to mysteries, historical fiction, time travel, and romances as well. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty different languages and were sold all over the world.

Here are the Diane Chamberlain books in order for her series and standalone stories.

New Diane Chamberlain Books

Big Lies in a Small Town, 2020

Keeper Trilogy

1. Keeper of the Light (Keeper #1), 1992
2. Kiss River (Keeper #2), 2003
3. Her Mother’s Shadow (Keeper #4), 2004

Before the Storm Series

1. Before the Storm (Before the Storm #1), 2008
2. Secrets She Left Behind (Before the Storm #2), 2009

Necessary Lies Series

1. The First Lie (Necessary Lies #0.5), 2013
2. Necessary Lies (Necessary Lies #1), 2013

Riley MacPherson Series

1. The Broken String (Riley MacPherson #0.5), 2014
2. The Silent Sister (Riley MacPherson #1), 2014

Standalone Diane Chamberlain Books

• Private Relations, 1989 (aka Secrets at the Beach House)
• Lovers and Strangers, 1990
• Secret Lives, 1991
• Fire and Rain, 1993
• Brass Ring, 1994
• Reflection, 1996
• The Escape Artist, 1997 (aka Remembering Me)
• Breaking the Silence, 1999
• Summer’s Child, 2000
• The Courage Tree, 2001
• The Shadow Wife, 2002 (aka Cypress Point/ The Forgotten Son)
• The Bay at Midnight, 2005
• The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes, 2006 (aka The Lost Daughter / A Beautiful Lie)
• The Lies We Told, 2010
• The Midwife’s Confession, 2011
• The Good Father, 2012
• Pretending to Dance, 2015
• The Stolen Marriage, 2017
• The Dream Daughter, 2018
• Big Lies in a Small Town, 2020

Diane Chamberlain Biography

Diane Chamberlain was born in 1950, in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, where she also grew up in a family of Italian heritage. As a child, she loved spending her summer vacations at the Jersey Shore. At some point, she moved to  San Diego where she attended the San Diego State University from where she received her Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in clinical social work. Later, she moved to northern Virginia, and finally settled down in North Carolina, where she is currently also living.

While residing in San Diego, she worked in hospitals as a hospital social worker, and then in Alexandria, Virginia she opened up a private psychotherapy practice focusing on troubled adolescents.

During this time, Diane Chamberlain was working on her first book which was published in 1989 under the title Private Relations. The book earned the author a RITA Award for Best Single Title Contemporary Novel. RITA is the highest award of distinction in romance fiction given by the Romance Writers of America.

That first awesome award to a debut novelist gave Diane Chamberlain the push to continue writing her character-driven stories in several genres over the years. Of course, it took her half a year to write the book, and then another year to get rejection after rejection, following which she completely overhauled her story, and that ended up selling and launching her writing career.

The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes (which in the UK was published as The Lost Daughter) was chosen as a summer Target Bookclub, which allowed the writer to reach thousands of new readers all over the world.

While she has written numerous books over the years, Diane feels that her third book, Secret Lives, was the one where she finally found her author’s voice. As favorite characters, Kate in the same book is one that is very close to the author’s heart since both Kate and Diane have dealt over the years with agoraphobia.

Some of the most compelling characters I have read so far were coming from her books, by one of the New York Times bestselling authors. The characters are complex, intricate, and usually have a rich life and background that pull you into the plot straight away. Most people who have read the Diane Chamberlain books say that her characters are unforgettable, and they can easily empathize with each and every one of them. This is helped by the author’s background in psychology, as she is able to transmit to the readers real-life characters that one can easily relate to.

In The Dream Daughter, with a publication year of 2018, we meet Caroline, a new mother who has received the worst of news shortly after learning of the death of her husband: her baby would be born with a heart defect that would probably kill it shortly after its birth. Putting regular characters in complex situations is also a trait of this special writer, which I highly enjoy. This particular story took a very unusual twist that I never saw coming, which unfolded in a fast-paced time-travel novel. The publication of this book added her to one of my favorite time-travel authors as well.

In an interview, Diane Chamberlain mentioned that she started writing all those years ago to entertain her readers. After all these years, her main focus hasn’t changed, and with every new book published that is read by people all over the globe, she hopes to reach and entertain that many more people. Her books all pose some moral questions at their core, which always resonate with her readers.

The first book in a series by the author is Keeper of the Light, which was published in 1993 and includes three stories.

In terms of research for her stories, she employs a research assistant who does all the legwork for her and track down everything is pertinent to the new books. Also she interviews experts in the various fields that will be featured in her books.

Before writing a book, Diane gets her inspiration in many different ways. Sometimes she reads something in the news that catches her attention. Other times, she hears a conversation that gets her brain cells actively working on a new story. Yet, other times, like when she started working on The Stolen Marriage and Necessary Lies, she gets the ideas out of nowhere, simply through imagination. For Necessarily Lies, she got the spark of an idea in North Carolina  where she moved at a time when forced sterilization in the state as part of the history of the state was in the news.

At some point, the author had to stop writing books and resort to dictating them due to a more and more several rheumatoid arthritis flare-up. However, after she started taking some new medicine that made it for her possible again to hold a pen and a keyboard, she went back to writing her books with her hands. The inspiration for her book Pretending to Dance came from her sister, Joann, an artist, actor and painter, who has lived with progressive MS for most of her adult life.

As a side note, I also suffer from the same illness (which I was born with), and what keeps my pain away is MSM (natural sulfur, aka methylsulfonylmethane). So far this has been my God sent, as I can type without any issues whatsoever even at the age of 50+. This is the same sulfur they give to racing horses to keep their RA in check. I say if it’s good for million-dollar horses, it’s good enough for little old me as well.

Currently, Diane Chamberlain lives with her partner. photographer John Pagliuca, and her sheltie, Cole, and she is working on her next book. Her extended family also includes three stepdaughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandchildren.

Praise for Diane Chamberlain

A complex, heart-wrenching tale, Chamberlains’ latest novel offers a Jodi Picoult-like story line yanked from the most shocking of headlines. (Booklist about The Midwife’s Confession)

A fast-paced, engrossing read focusing on a delightful pair of characters. (Kirkus on Reflection)

The brisk, atmospherically evocative narrative is absorbing (Publishers Weekly on Secret Lives)

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes will pull you in, make you laugh, make you cry, and make you question the known. It is full or surprises and captivating plot twists all the way until the very last page. If you are looking for a book to travel with this summer, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes is a must read. (Examiner)

Bestselling novelist Chamberlain returns with yet another heart- wrenching story about lost loves and the risks people take to save those they deeply care about. (RT Bookreviews on The Good Father)

References

• Diane Chamberlain official website
• Author’s publisher page
• Author interview about her time-travel story

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