New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard captured the heart of a nation with The Deep End of the Ocean, her celebrated debut novel about mother Beth Cappadora, a child kidnapped, a family in crisis. Now, in No Time to Wave Goodbye, the unforgettable Cappadoras are in peril once again, forced to confront an unimaginable evil.
It has been twenty-two years since Beth Cappadora's three-year-old son Ben was abducted. By some miracle, he returned nine years later, and the family began to pick up the pieces of their lives. But their peace has always been fragile: Ben returned from the deep end as another child and has never felt entirely at ease with the family he was born into. Now the Cappadora children are grown: Ben is married with a baby girl, Kerry is studying to be an opera singer, and Vincent has emerged from his troubled adolescence as a fledgling filmmaker.
The subject of Vincent's new documentary, "No Time to Wave Goodbye," shakes Vincent's unsuspecting family to the core; it focuses on five families caught in the tortuous web of never knowing the fate of their abducted children. Though Beth tries to stave off the torrent of buried emotions, she is left wondering if she and her family are fated to relive the past forever.
The film earns tremendous acclaim, but just as the Cappadoras are about to celebrate the culmination of Vincent's artistic success, what Beth fears the most occurs, and the Cappadoras are cast back into the past, revisiting the worst moment of their lives--with only hours to find the truth that can save a life. High in a rugged California mountain range, their rescue becomes a desperate struggle for survival. No Time to Wave Goodbye is Jacquelyn Mitchard at her best, a spellbinding novel about family loyalty, and love pushed to the limits of endurance.
Before dawn on the day she would finally see his first real film, Beth Cappadora slipped into the guest room and lay down on the edge of the bed where her son, Vincent, slept.
Had she touched his hair or his shoulder, he would not have stirred. When he slept at all, Vincent slept like a man who'd fallen from a relaxed standing position after being hit on the back of the head by a frying pan. Still, she didn't take the risk. Her relationship with Vincent didn't admit of nighttime confidences, funny cards, all the trappings of the sentimental, platonic courtship between a mother and her grown boy. Instead, Beth blessed the air around his head, where coiled wisps of dark hair still sprang up as they had when he was a child.
Show them, Vincent, she said softly. Knock 'em dead.
Beth asked only a minor redemption-something that would stuff back the acid remarks that everyone had made about where Vincent's career of minor crime and major slough-offs would end, because it had so far outlasted the most generous boundaries of juvenile delinquency. She wished one thing itself, simple and linear: Let Vincent's movie succeed.
That night, as she watched the film, and recognized its might and its worth, Beth had to appreciate-by then, against her will-that her wish was coming true. What she didn't realize was something that she'd learned long ago.
Only long months from that morning did Beth, a superstitious woman all her life, realize she had forgotten that if a wish slipped like an arrow through a momentary slice in the firmament, it was free to come true any way it would. Only fools thought its trajectory could ever be controlled.
Sixteen hours after Beth tiptoed from Vincent's bedside, a spotlight beam shined out over the seat where she sat fidgeting and craning her neck to peek at everyone else taking their seats in the Harrington Community Center Auditorium.
Suddenly, there was Vincent, onstage. He looked up from nervously adjusting the pink tie he wore against his white shirt and twilight gray suit and said, "I have to apologize. We have a little technical glitch we need to fix and then we'll be ready. Thanks for your patience. In just a moment, the first voice you will hear is my sister, the opera singer Kerry Rose Cappadora, who also narrates this film. I'll be right back. I mean, the film will. Thanks again."
Beth leaned forward as if from the prow of a ship. Her husband, Pat, reached out to ease her back. "Don't jump," he teased. "You can't do this for him. It's high time, Bethie. You have to agree. Vincent's lived la vita facile too long."
"I know," Beth agreed. Though she didn't speak Italian, she wanted to poke Pat in the ribs and not gently. Vincent earned his way, after a fashion. Vincent owned a home, after a fashion-two rooms in Venice Beach, California, that had once been a garage. Vincent had made a gourmet chocolate commercial nominated for an ADDY Award. He hadn't asked them for a dime since...well, since the last time he dropped out of college. But she said only, "You're right, of course."
"Bethie?"
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you arguing with me?" Pat asked. "What's the matter with you?" Beth shrugged, battling the urge to drag her fingers through her careful blowout: If you have to mess with your hair, Beth's friend Candy said, shake, don't rake. Pat cracked his knuckles. "Damn it," Pat said then. "Who am I trying to kid? I haven't wanted a cigarette this bad since the grease fire at the restaurant. I want to jump up on the stage and yell at everybody, This is my son's work! You better appreciate this! But we've got to give this over to him." ...
Reviews
Barbara Delinsky, author of While My Sister Sleeps...
"Jacquelyn Mitchard has done it again. In this masterful sequel to her blockbuster bestseller, The Deep End of the Ocean, she captivates us once more, revisiting characters so human, so flawed, that their angst becomes ours. As the best of intentions go awry, the reader is drawn into an adventure so gripping that only a storyteller of Ms. Mitchard's stature can resolve it with meaning and grace. Prepare for a climax that will capture your heart in this powerful story of reconciliation and redemption."
Jodi Picoult, author of Handle with Care...
"For everyone who adored The Deep End of the Ocean--rejoice! Mitchard's latest brings back the Cappadora family, as the most unexpected of tragedies forces them to test the relationships they've built in the wake of Ben's return. It's vintage Mitchard: full of characters you feel like you already know, and a plot that keeps you reading till the last page."
Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay it Forward...
"Jacquelyn Mitchard has created something so indelible, so unforgettable, in the Cappadora family that I was honored and excited to be given this second glimpse into their life experience. I would have followed them anywhere."
James Rollins, author of The Doomsday Key...
"Few writers wield prose as masterfully as Jacquelyn Mitchard, and her latest novel No Time to Wave Goodbye proves she has only grown more powerful. Hauntingly lyrical yet blisteringly real and intense, this sequel to The Deep End of the Ocean will leave you gasping until the very last page. I read this book in one sitting, and once done, I wanted to read it all over again, word by word, line by line, in awe of her talent."
Hope Edelman, author of The Possibility of Everything...
"The Cappadora family is back, in all of its wonderful complexity. When tragedy strikes a second time, they respond in the same imperfect, human, and utterly believable manner that has made them one of the most astutely rendered and memorable families in contemporary fiction. Once again, they rise above being victims of circumstance to teach us lessons about fortitude and grace. Jacquelyn Mitchard has created a new page-turner of a family odyssey. Its emotions linger long after the last paragraph is read."
Karin Slaughter, author of Undone...
"No Time to Wave Goodbye hits all the right notes. The story is gripping, suspenseful and downright good; a beautiful reminder of why the world loves Jacquelyn Mitchard."
Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked...
"If at its best a family is a safety net, what happens when the net unravels? Jacquelyn Mitchard's novel, No Time To Wave Goodbye, examines a family victimized. She doesn't sidestep considering the impact of ambiguous rescues or uncertain recoveries. Racing, taut, rich in tension and tenderness."
Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle...
"In No Time to Wave Goodbye, Jacquelyn Mitchard reminds us that both sadness and happiness are fleeting, that families come apart and together in surprising ways, and that the power of love is stronger than we know. This book makes me proud to be human, with all our glorious flaws."
About the Creator
Jacquelyn Mitchard is the New York Times bestselling author of the first Oprah's Book Club selection, The Deep End of the Ocean, and more than a dozen other books for both adults and children. A former syndicated columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she is a contributing editor for Parade, and her work has appeared in More, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, and Real Simple, among other publications. Mitchard lives in Wisconsin with her husband and seven children.
