The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain

In 1944, twenty-three-year-old Tess DeMello abruptly ends her engagement to the love of her life when she marries a mysterious stranger and moves to Hickory, North Carolina, a small town struggling with racial tension and the hardships imposed by World War II. Tess’s new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night, hides money from his new wife, and shows no interest in making love. Tess quickly realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.
The people of Hickory love and respect Henry and see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain, especially after one of the town’s prominent citizens dies in a terrible accident and Tess is blamed. Tess suspects people are talking about her, plotting behind her back, and following her as she walks around town. What does everyone know about Henry that she does not? Feeling alone and adrift, Tess turns to the one person who seems to understand her, a local medium who gives her hope but seems to know more than he’s letting on. 
When a sudden polio epidemic strikes the town, the townspeople band together to build a polio hospital. Tess, who has a nursing degree, bucks Henry’s wishes and begins to work at the hospital, finding meaning in nursing the young victims. Yet at home, Henry’s actions grow more alarming by the day. As Tess works to save the lives of her patients, can she untangle her husband’s mysterious behavior and save her own life?

Review: Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain that I read and reviewed.
This book was completely out of the area that I usually find myself reading but I can honestly say that I enjoyed The Stolen Marriage a great deal more then I thought I was going to when I realized it was a historical book. I found I enjoyed the story a great deal and I really liked Tess as a character.
I found some other aspects of the story intriguing as well but I don't want to go into them because I refuse to give spoilers but I will say that Chamberlain explored a lot of thing in this book from race, to religion, to health and a number of other things people were dealing with during the forties and she did and excellent job with characters that you grew to care for as you got more involved in the book. This is a book I was not able to put down because I had to know what was going to happen to Tess and how was she going to deal with the situation she got in and finally if she would ever get her happy ending. Tess was one of those characters you could not walk away from because she grew so much throughout the book you had no choice but be her cheerleader because everyone has a little bit of Tess in them, or I would hope they do.
I am giving The Stolen Marriage five out of five stars.