Pretending to Dance cover art

Pretending to Dance

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pretending to Dance

By: Diane Chamberlain
Narrated by: Susan Bennett
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

When the pretending ends, the lying begins....

It's the summer of 1990, and 14-year-old Molly Arnette lives with her extended family on 100 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The summer seems idyllic at first. The mountains are Molly's playground, and she's well loved by her father, a therapist famous for books he's written about a method called 'Pretend Therapy'; her adoptive mother, who has raised Molly as her own; and Amalia, her birth mother who also lives on the family land. The adults in Molly's life have created a safe and secure world for her to grow up in.

But Molly's security begins to crumble as she becomes aware of a plan taking shape in her extended family - a plan she can't stop and that threatens to turn her idyllic summer into a nightmare.

Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain, the best-selling author of The Silent Sister, is a fascinating and deftly woven novel that reveals the devastating power of secrets.

©2015 Diane Chamberlain (P)2015 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Family Life Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Fiction Summer

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Summer's Child cover art
The Lies We Told cover art
The Courage Tree cover art
The Bay at Midnight cover art
Wynn in Doubt cover art
Golden State cover art
Lavender Morning cover art
The Night the Lights Went Out cover art
The Mother I Could Have Been cover art
The House on Tradd Street cover art
The Precious One cover art
Best Kept Secret cover art
The Memory of Light cover art
The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness cover art
Little & Lion cover art
Firefly Lane cover art

Critic reviews

"Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged by this cleverly crafted family drama." ( Sunday Mirror)
"Tightly written with a great plot, this book will keep you hooked." ( Fabulous Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant  
A satisfying listen with a well moulded plot. The characters are believable and it is must have been quite a job for the author Diane Chamberlain to work out what it must have been like to be 14 again [with all that entails from the angst a teenager has to go through] and write the main protagonist from this age! The theme and plot do work because it is based on learning through repetition of circumstance.
I liked it and it is another of Diane Chamberlain's good stories.

Good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unusual story line, loved it, and couldn’t stop listening to it. Fantastic author. Great narrator too which is always so important.
Highly recommended.

Great story with believable characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a beautiful story of personal development and really tough choices. I loved the honesty of the characters and the easily imagined back drop. Susan was a perfect narrator with an age appropriate voice. I have personally and professionally related to this book as I am a Therapist and a girl who also grew up loving New Kids On The Block! It reminds me of Judy Blume and Freya North. Love them both.
Easy to read (listen to) yet fulfilling.

Beautiful story, heart felt and captivating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I guessed the twist. And I thought the main character was selfish. But by design. Neither of these things made the book any less enthralling. Loved it.

Beautiful performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have mixed feelings about this book, primarily because of the lack of clarity on various points throughout the book and also because I wasn’t really crazy about the main character, Molly.

I too have MS and can totally relate to where the father and therefore the story is coming from. Also been there, done it and got a few of those T-shirts when it comes to the question of wanting to stop the merry go round and get off. However, it was unclear how exactly “everybody” got in on the act of assisting with the father’s exit. I don’t know if it was me and I just didn’t “get it” or there were other loose ends throughout the book which didn’t really tie up.

Aside from the lack of clarity on the family’s involvement en masse in the fathers exit, the story was also vague on the father’s relationship with Almalia and how it resulted in a child.

Also I found the young Mollie to be totally self absorbed and quite frankly immature. Her obsession with Chris was irritating. As for the older Mollie, as she aged and grew out of her teenage tantrums, she continued to display the same degree of self absorption in that she couldn’t understand and appreciate her fathers need to leave his miserable life.

All in all, it was a fairly good book but perhaps not the best.

Another good read but perhaps not the best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s just a book about lives and most will probably be able to relate to parts of it. I don’t know what genre it is but it’s not my usual choice.

As I said, just an easy listen. What we all need while the world around us is crazy.

I’m going to listen to a murder and mayhem book next because this, if it is possible, has made me miss my family even more. Christmas 2020!

Just an easy listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This American family drama has it all: family secrets, teenage rebellion and its outcome, and terminal illness. It deals with some very difficult subject matter and still delivers a satisfying story with a good ending. Ultimately a heartwarming story which is well told. I enjoyed it very much.

A new take on coming of age teenage angst. A good story, well told

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is not one of my favourites I considered Molly's actions to be self-indulgent causing years of estrangement and pain Narrated well

Can't deny living Diane Chamberlain

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking and involving book. As with most modern fiction there were areas which stretched credulity but overall it was a lovely, true read. Well narrated and well crafted. I shall look to read more by Diane Chamberlain.

Absorbing and involving

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the way Diane Chamberlain, told the story of the young Molly and the older Molly. The tape would appeal to women of any age. I gave the story line 4, I enjoyed the plot but it could have been condensed, but worthy of four stars.

Family secrets

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews