For years, Chelsea Maynard has longed to be a mother. She's imagined caring for a new baby in the lovely house she shares with her husband, Leo, fondly planning every detail. But after a difficult birth, those dreams of blissful bonding evaporate. Chelsea battles sleep deprivation and feelings of isolation. Little Annabelle cries constantly, and Chelsea has dark visions fueled by exhaustion and self-doubt. Her sister, Emma, insists she gets help for post-partum depression, but Chelsea's doctor dismisses her worries as self-indulgent. Doubting her ability to parent--even doubting her own sanity--Chelsea is close to collapse. Then an unthinkable crisis hits. And suddenly, Chelsea is compelled to face both the fragility and resilience of life, and the extraordinary depths of love. With uncompromising candor and clarity, acclaimed author Rosalind Noonan creates a mesmerizing novel that is gripping, heart-wrenching, and unforgettably poignant. Praise for Rosalind Noonan's The Daughter She Used to Be "The author once again takes on an emotional topic with great sensitivity." – Booklist "An engrossing family saga. . .this novel would fuel some great book-club discussions."--Shelf Awareness "Noonan delivers another earnest drama." – Publishers Weekly "Probes [the] flip side of motherhood." -- Statesman Journal "Rosalind Noonan has a firm foothold on becoming one of the finest authors of family drama and suspense. This absorbing story of a new mother's dreams shattered by postpartum depression exemplifies the author's ability to see inside us and explore the darkest, and ultimately, the brightest corners of life." --D.A. Kentner, The Readers' Writers "A heart-stopping story of real life issues. I definitely recommend this book...It has changed me in a way. If you enjoy a good sad, thrilling book I definitely would pick this one up." --Ashley Foesier, Moms Reading Corner "I read this book in one sitting...A captivating read. Highly recommended." -- Daystarz Books "A riveting family drama...sure to be welcomed by fans of Sophie Hannah and Anita Shreve." --My Good Bookshelf I hate conflict. Maybe it's the Pisces in me that longs to go with the flow or swim in the opposite direction when faced with a shark.             In life I try to dodge intellectual and physical battles. However, as a writer, conflict is the juiciest fruit in the basket, the golden pear that makes for a bountiful story. Conflict leads to accelerating story action and character revelation.  When I was playing with plot ideas for the story that would become All She Ever Wanted , I landed on a conflict that I thought would be the mightiest challenge of my main character's life. What if a new mother who can barely function due to postpartum depression loses track of her baby? A missing baby. A distraught mother who has been suffering dark visions of flying knives and her daughter slipping from her arms. A medical community ill-equipped to treat a type of depression that is often passed off as "baby blues."             When my editor read the outline, his first response was "Is PPD really that grim?" Well, yeah. I had done the research, I had two children, and I knew women who had been to hell and back.  Which begged the question, why had I chosen to swim with the sharks on this novel?             Conflict.  Chelsea's story was chockfull of it. The conflict lent a natural story arc to the novel. However, it didn't make it easy for me to write. Chelsea's voyage is treacherous, and I suffered every bump and free-fall along with her. Like a method actor, I try to ground my protagonist in the human truth of the moment. As one of my friends says, "Keep it honest."             My writing voyages have taken me to some interesting places. Through research and story creation I have served as a soldier in Iraq, saved lives in a hospital emergency room, and tangled with a serial killer. So when my son asks me how my day went, occasionally I share what I learned about branding cattle or tracking down an infant abductor or defusing a roadside bomb. You might say, "It's not brain surgery." Well, actually, some days it is. All in a day's work. Rosalind Noonan is a New York Times bestselling fiction author and graduate of Wagner College. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes in the shade of some towering two-hundred-year-old Douglas fir trees.