Marti Leimbach’s first novel, Dying Young, was called “a masterpiece of details that always ring true, with the sad, funny and fascinating unpredictability of real life.” With the same talent and perception, Leimbach’s new novel takes the reader to London, to the home of the Marshes: Stephen Marsh, a true Brit; Melanie, a transplanted American; and their two children, four-year-old Emily and Daniel, just three. When it is conveyed that Daniel is autistic, the orderly life of the Marsh family is shattered.

Melanie is determined to fight to teach Daniel to speak, play and become as “normal” as possible. Her enchanting disposition has already helped her weather other of life’s storms, but Daniel’s autism may just push her over the brink, destroying her resolute optimism and bringing her unsteady marriage to an inglorious end. The situation is not helped by Stephen’s far-from-supportive parents, who proudly display the family tree with Melanie’s name barely penciled in, and who remain disconcertingly attached to Stephen’s ex-fiancée, a woman apparently intent on restaking her claim on Stephen. Melanie does have one strong ally in Andy, a talented and off-the-wall play therapist who specializes in teaching autistic children. Andy proves that Daniel is far more capable than anyone imagined, and Melanie finds herself drawn to him even as she staggers toward resolving her marriage.

Daniel Isn’t Talking is a moving, deeply absorbing story of a family in crisis. What sets it apart from most fiction about difficult subjects is the author’s ability to write about a sad and frightening situation with a seamless blend of warmth, compassion and humor.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A fearless, unsentimental novel about a mother's devotion to her autistic child, by the bestselling author of Dying Young. Simultaneous international publication.

Smart, resilient, engaged with the world, Melanie Marsh has already weathered the suicide of her father, the death of her mother, and the loss of her lover, but she has not lost the thrill of adventure or her wry sense of humour. When she comes to England to study, Melanie meets Stephen, a financial analyst, and is drawn immediately to his strong presence. Marriage and family quickly follow, as well as a certain happiness, until Melanie's worst suspicions are confirmed about their three-year-old son, Daniel. Daniel has autism and the prognosis is grim. Frustrated by the limits of the medical system, Melanie takes Daniel's care into her own hands and devotes all she has to working with him. Her marriage soon begins to falter and Stephen eventually turns to a former lover. It is at about this time that she seeks out Andy O'Connor, an alternative therapist whose controversial approach to autism she's heard something about. It is Andy's creativity, his patience and caring, that enable her son's progress, and for the first time, hope, in many forms, takes root.

Passionate, moving, heartbreakingly real, Marti Leimbach's new novel reveals a mother's desperation and the capacities of love, demonstrating once again Leimbach's gift for storytelling and for portraying characters we come to care deeply about.

FROM THE CRITICS

Suki Casanave - The Washington Post

Readers of Daniel Isn't Talking will not journey into the inevitable complexity that envelops the lives of most disabled children who grow into adults. Instead, the author puts us face-to-face with the early stages of coming to grips with raising an autistic child, exposing the inner life of a feisty mother and her frantic rescue attempts. Melanie's breakdown and eventual recovery, powered in part by some important self-discoveries in the book's final pages, give us reason to hope that, in the face of things to come, she and others like her can manage to find their way.

Eve Conant - The New York Times

… watching a handicapped child rend the fragile seams of a woman's personality and her marriage exposes us to some of the more honest and guilty realities of being a parent, and with it a mother's very human pursuit of a livable, if not perfect, ending.

Publishers Weekly

Leimbach (Dying Young) notes on the back of the galley that she has modeled her title character on her own autistic son; the result is moving, frequently funny and never mawkish. The novel is narrated by Melanie Marsh, an American woman living in England who seems to have it all: Stephen, a rich if somewhat starchy husband; Emily, a vivacious daughter; and an adorable son named Daniel. But after a normal infancy, Daniel is beginning to behave strangely-throwing tantrums, walking on his toes, still seeking his mother's breast and refusing to talk. As Melanie unravels, Stephen remains in denial, until the dreaded diagnosis of autism is delivered. The marriage falls apart, but Melanie does not. She embarks on a frustrating, heroic mission to get the best treatment for her son, eventually entrusting his care to Andy O'Connor, a behaviorist with a dubious reputation. But his unorthodox methods get results, and soon, a bit too predictably, a romance blossoms between Andy and Melanie. While the novel lacks the literary ambition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Leimbach does succeed in making us care about Daniel and his progress. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

For her fourth novel, Leimbach, best known for her debut, Dying Young, has written a satisfying story about a woman in crisis and a son with autism. While studying at Oxford, American-born Melanie meets and marries a man from a traditional upper-crust English family and settles in London. As the story opens, Melanie and husband Stephen have a creative and imaginative four-year-old daughter, Emily, and a son, Daniel, not quite three, who is a picky eater, walks on his toes, and doesn't talk yet. After making the rounds of specialists, Daniel is diagnosed as autistic, and his parents are advised to put him in a special school, a treatment acceptable to his father but not his mother. Stephen panics and goes back to an old girlfriend, who's more representative of the life he thinks he should have. Meanwhile, Melanie seeks out alternative treatments for Daniel, finding a regimen of specially prepared foods and play therapy that helps him make some major developmental gains. She also begins to rebel against the classic educational structure that's stifling her daughter's creativity and the upper-class life that is cramping her own style. Leimbach, herself the parent of an autistic child, does an excellent job of showing a mother fighting with every ounce of her being for what is right for her children and, ultimately, herself. A most satisfying read, this is recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/06.]-Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll. Lib. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The author of Dying Young (1989) tells the story of a young mother with an autistic son. Melanie Marsh, an American living in London, has a daughter named Emily, a sweet little girl with blonde curls who chatters exuberantly and loves to paint. She also has Daniel. Daniel isn't normal. He cries a lot-wildly, and for no apparent reason. He hurts himself. He rejects affection from both his parents, and he refuses to play. And even though he is almost three, he doesn't talk. When she and her husband, Stephen, learn that Daniel is autistic, her fear is compounded by guilt and confusion: "He's always been like this . . . a diagnosis, a label such as autism, does not change the child. And yet . . . I cannot help feeling as though I started the journey this morning with my beloved little boy and am returning with a slightly alien, educable time bomb." And, of course, the diagnosis does change everything. Melanie acquiesces to her husband's insistence that four-year-old Emily start school. Stephen leaves for a business trip and doesn't come home. And although she tries to be there for her daughter, Melanie's desire to teach Daniel to talk quickly supersedes everything else in her life. Fed up with specialists from National Health Service and immune to Stephen's suggestion that they institutionalize Daniel, Melanie turns to therapist Andy O'Connor for help. Andy not only coaxes words-sentences, even-from Daniel, but he also reminds Melanie to care for her own needs as well as those of her children. Melanie is a smart woman and an engaging protagonist. Her reaction to Daniel's condition is both intellectual and emotional. She studies, she does research, she sobs until blood vessels break in herface. Her narration is frank and unapologetic, infused with a well-deserved crankiness that occasionally erupts in surprising flashes of humor. A skillfully crafted and bracingly unsentimental look at one mother's love-sometimes tender, sometimes frantic, always fierce-in the face of adversity. Film rights to Fox 2000