The Favorite Daughter

The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry

This should be the happiest day of Colleen
Donohue's life. Splendid in her vintage,
lace wedding gown, she'll soon walk down
the aisle with a radiant smile, taking solemn
vows with Walter, the man she loves.

But those dreams are shattered when Colleen
witnesses a passionate, clandestine embrace
between Walter and her sister, Hallie,  just
minutes before the ceremony.

The deep, stinging betrayal by two people
she trusts the most, is overwhelming. So Colleen
follows her heart and runs far, far away from
the serene beauty of Watersend, South Carolina,
never looking back, praying her heart will
heal someday.

Ten years later, Colleen has made a name for
herself as a successful free-lance travel writer in
New York City. Friends, a bustling social life, and
casual romances along the way, keep her busy, but
unfulfilled.

When brother, Shane, summons her back home to
to help with the decline of their beloved father,
ravaged by Alzheimer's disease, she's keenly
aware of her obligation to return to the Low-
country she left behind.

So much has changed, yet many things remain
the same. Family calls her Lena, just like they did
years ago. Her brother still runs the Irish pub where many
after-school days were spent doing homework.
Hallie is married to the charming, deceitful Walter,
and mother to two precocious girls. And the pain, anger,
guilt, and resentment between the two sisters who were
once inseparable, is as fresh as it was on that fateful day.

As time goes on, Colleen can see her confused father
slowly slipping away from reality. Time is of the essence
as she and her siblings prepare to honor him with a
celebration of memories and pictures. But a puzzling
photograph from his youth contradicts what he's always
told them about the past. Could he be harboring a painful
secret, even as his mind is fading?

This is a mellow, heartwarming story about the
power of forgiveness, the futility of revenge, and
the achingly, difficult decision to accept what we
can't change, open to what the future holds.