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The Awakening: A Novel
The celebrated author of The Alchemist leaves the world of ancient Egypt with this chilling, modern ghost story of an unraveling family....
Mary is an amnesiac who wakes up in a sanitarium with no sense of her past other than the dim memory of an incident that took the lives of her physician husband and daughter. Her psychotherapist at the sanitarium convinces her that her family isn't literally dead, and she moves into what she thinks is her lakeside house near Chapel Hill, N.C., hoping that its occupants -- a frustrated writer and his rebellious teenage daughter, both spending the summer there -- are her family.
It gradually becomes clear that Mary is a ghost. The daughter, Elsie, sees her but can't speak to her. The father, Paul, encounters the ghost and actually converses with her. When his wife, Penny, a prominent surgeon, joins her family at the summer house, she has terrifying dreams of blood splattered about the kitchen.
As Mary struggles to communicate with the house's isolated, unhappy occupants, they themselves fail to communicate with one another -- Paul is miserable over his flagging career; Penny, preoccupied with her work, barely has time for the family; and Elsie is bitterly estranged from both of them.
The author slowly reveals the ties between Mary's family and the one she has adopted, and Paul, Penny and Elsie begin to draw together as they research their mysterious visitor. This is a well-told tale with a shocking final revelation.
Mary is an amnesiac who wakes up in a sanitarium with no sense of her past other than the dim memory of an incident that took the lives of her physician husband and daughter. Her psychotherapist at the sanitarium convinces her that her family isn't literally dead, and she moves into what she thinks is her lakeside house near Chapel Hill, N.C., hoping that its occupants -- a frustrated writer and his rebellious teenage daughter, both spending the summer there -- are her family.
It gradually becomes clear that Mary is a ghost. The daughter, Elsie, sees her but can't speak to her. The father, Paul, encounters the ghost and actually converses with her. When his wife, Penny, a prominent surgeon, joins her family at the summer house, she has terrifying dreams of blood splattered about the kitchen.
As Mary struggles to communicate with the house's isolated, unhappy occupants, they themselves fail to communicate with one another -- Paul is miserable over his flagging career; Penny, preoccupied with her work, barely has time for the family; and Elsie is bitterly estranged from both of them.
The author slowly reveals the ties between Mary's family and the one she has adopted, and Paul, Penny and Elsie begin to draw together as they research their mysterious visitor. This is a well-told tale with a shocking final revelation.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
3 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Donna Boyd
10 books48 followersaka Donna Ball, Rebecca Flanders, Donna Carlisle
With Shannon Harper as Leigh Bristol, Taylor Brady
Donna A. Ball born in 1951 in Georgia, USA. Her ancestors were one of the first pioneer families of North Georgia, and her family still lives on the land they purchased from the Cherokee in 1782.
Her first book was published in 1982 as Donna Ball, since them she has written over a dozen works of commercial fiction under her name and under diferent pseudonyms: Rebecca Flanders, Donna Carlisle and Donna Boyd. She also signed novels with Shannon Harper as Leigh Bristol and Taylor Brady. And a novel with Linda Dano as Felicia Gallant. She is known for her work in women’s fiction and suspense, as well as supernatural fantasy and adventure. Her novels have been translated into well over a dozen languages and have been published in virtually every country in the world. She has appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and has been featured in such publications as the Detroit Free Press, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and even T.V. Guide. She is the holder of the Storytelling World award, 2001, the Georgia Author of the Year Award, 2000, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards for consecutive years 1991-1996, the Georgia Romance Writer’s Maggie Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times, among others.
Donna lives in a restored turn-of-the-century barn in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeast Georgia with her dogs, they have won numerous awards for agility, obedience, and canine musical freestyle. Her hobbies include oil painting, hiking and dog obedience training.
With Shannon Harper as Leigh Bristol, Taylor Brady
Donna A. Ball born in 1951 in Georgia, USA. Her ancestors were one of the first pioneer families of North Georgia, and her family still lives on the land they purchased from the Cherokee in 1782.
Her first book was published in 1982 as Donna Ball, since them she has written over a dozen works of commercial fiction under her name and under diferent pseudonyms: Rebecca Flanders, Donna Carlisle and Donna Boyd. She also signed novels with Shannon Harper as Leigh Bristol and Taylor Brady. And a novel with Linda Dano as Felicia Gallant. She is known for her work in women’s fiction and suspense, as well as supernatural fantasy and adventure. Her novels have been translated into well over a dozen languages and have been published in virtually every country in the world. She has appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and has been featured in such publications as the Detroit Free Press, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and even T.V. Guide. She is the holder of the Storytelling World award, 2001, the Georgia Author of the Year Award, 2000, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards for consecutive years 1991-1996, the Georgia Romance Writer’s Maggie Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times, among others.
Donna lives in a restored turn-of-the-century barn in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeast Georgia with her dogs, they have won numerous awards for agility, obedience, and canine musical freestyle. Her hobbies include oil painting, hiking and dog obedience training.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 25, 2010
I got a hold of this book accidentally when looking for Kelley Armstrong's book by the same name. It lay on my desk for several weeks until I picked it up when looking for a stand alone short read when going to Raleigh to move my daughter back to college. It turned a 3 hour ride into a delight as I delved into this great mystery. I've got to admit that I thought I had it figured out several times but the author deftly ran circles around me. I can say little that doesn't spoil the book but you will not be disappointed at all upon reading this short though amazingly complex story.
September 11, 2016
This book was really good up until the end. The ending was so rushed for all the powerful discoveries revealed at the conclusion. I wonder why the author chose to rush the ending? The build up was great though. I wanted to know what was happening, and I was interested in the characters. Almost a 5 star book if the ending had been given as much depth as the rest of the story. 4 Stars
October 29, 2017
This one is a slow start. It takes until about chapter 3 or 4 to really get more interesting.
July 9, 2018
Took a bit to get into the book and begin to understand what was going on. Once that happened the story jelled nicely.
February 2, 2011
Donna Boyd’s novel The Awakening starts off promisingly enough. A woman wakes up, confused and disoriented. It’s clear that something traumatic has happened to her, but she has no recollection of what it is. Then we meet Paul Mason, his wife Penny and their daughter, Elsie. Paul’s a famous writer who hasn’t published anything new in over six years; Penny is a busy surgeon; Elsie is their troubled thirteen-year-old daughter. Paul and Penny’s marriage is hobbling along after Paul’s infidelity; Elsie is apparently in therapy to recover from some traumatic event.
The Awakening is a ghost story. Apparently, though, writing a ghost story wasn’t sufficient for Boyd, so she’s thrown in teen angst, suicide pacts, buried family secrets, cancer, and the whole notion of life after death. All the bits and pieces are meant to add up and when the ghost finally comes to terms with her death (and is ultimately reunited with her true family, although we don’t actually see this happen ), the miracle of her existence propels the Masons down a road towards reconciliation and emotional healing.
Should you expect more than entertainment when you read a book like this? Not necessarily, I guess. There was something that just didn’t add up though…or maybe it’s that things did add up, just the teensiest bit too easily. So many big topics, Paul’s infidelity, for example or the ways that he and Penny had drifted apart or what happened to Elsie which had caused so much stress in the family, all of it is explained or resolved in the book’s final pages.
The Awakening turned out to be one of the tamest ghost stories I’ve ever read and an even less compelling family drama.
The Awakening is a ghost story. Apparently, though, writing a ghost story wasn’t sufficient for Boyd, so she’s thrown in teen angst, suicide pacts, buried family secrets, cancer, and the whole notion of life after death. All the bits and pieces are meant to add up and when the ghost finally comes to terms with her death (and is ultimately reunited with her true family, although we don’t actually see this happen ), the miracle of her existence propels the Masons down a road towards reconciliation and emotional healing.
Should you expect more than entertainment when you read a book like this? Not necessarily, I guess. There was something that just didn’t add up though…or maybe it’s that things did add up, just the teensiest bit too easily. So many big topics, Paul’s infidelity, for example or the ways that he and Penny had drifted apart or what happened to Elsie which had caused so much stress in the family, all of it is explained or resolved in the book’s final pages.
The Awakening turned out to be one of the tamest ghost stories I’ve ever read and an even less compelling family drama.
June 13, 2014
I did not like this book as much as I wanted to. The ending was way to predictable and there was no twist like I was expecting. I had this awesome idea forming in my head that Mary's world was colliding with our world, and through this rip in time and space she was able to communicate with another world. A parallel world idea, kind of like Fringe (the television show). Nope, instead she was just a normal ghost who couldn't move on. I did not see the daughter's best friend killing herself, though I did think that maybe the reason they went out to the lake house was because the daughter was dealing with some issues. Overall not a bad read, just not what I was expecting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2008
The "awakening" referred to in the title is one of the main characters' return to consciousness following an event she must figure out as part of her recovery. Meanwhile, a family has arrived at a lake house trying to repair their relationships following what turns out to be more than one difficult situation. How these characters intersect and help each other heal was somewhat predictable, but at least the author scores a few points for being creative.
February 5, 2012
For a 200 page book, it took an unbelievably long time to get to the freaking point. A good 100 pages until it finally got mildly interesting and less confusing! It was absolutely impossible to tell which group of people (Paul, Penny and Elsie) or (Mary, Jeff and Sarah) were the main characters and who were the ghosts. Incredibly confusing, disturbing and all together boring.
This is not the first book I've read and disliked by this author but it will be the last.
This is not the first book I've read and disliked by this author but it will be the last.
April 14, 2010
Well, I ordered "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin from BookSwim.com and got this, "The Awakening" by Donna Boyd, instead. The title on the books says "The Awakening and Other Stories" but it wasn't - it was just "The Awakening." All that said, it was a cute little entertaining read. Didn't expect much of it, but I enjoyed reading it and had to keep reading to the end to see how it ended up!
May 18, 2009
Nice little mystery mixed with the supernatural. How the lives of the main characters intermix is a surprise.
September 7, 2010
Short, light engaging read. Something suitable for a weekend or beach read. A family in throes of change are united through a mystery.
April 13, 2011
Sappy ending
February 16, 2012
I would have given this 3.5 stars if it were an option.
June 23, 2012
Very short book. I got rather lost in the wordiness.
December 2, 2012
Real good book, will probably read again in the future.
June 14, 2014
I liked the story line for the most part. Sometimes it was a little confusing and sometimes it needed a little more explaining. It was a good mystery for the most part.
September 20, 2015
If you want a good quick read this is the book. It's a little confusing at first with its different storylines but it was entertaining and something I will probably read again.
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January 9, 2021"they slept close together, boy and dog, until the morning light. the sound of the dog's steady breathing seemed as old as time, and it seemed to say 'you are safe with me.'"
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews