A Dream Away

Dobs and Nikki, reunited through Facebook after being apart for thirty years, are living happily in Laguna Beach, California with Nikki’s two adopted teenage daughters, Allison and Jamie. Suddenly, fifteen year old Allison’s birth mother appears at their front door and demands to have her daughter back. She had given her up for adoption fifteen years earlier. But now, ravaged with severe bipolar disorder, she wants her back at any cost. She attempts to have Nikki killed, thinking it would then be easier to get her back. She then takes Allison on a harrowing trip up to Washington State to meet her real birth father, now a science fiction writer and devout nudist. Finally, through much struggle, Allison is back with her adoptive parents and foster sister after having experienced the strange world of her birth parents. Now she knows why they gave her up in the first place.


Reviewed by Lisa M. for Readers Favorite

A Dream Away by Frank Drury is a fictional romance novel. Dobs and Nikki are reunited after thirty years. They are living in California with her two adoptive daughters. Life makes a drastic change when one of the girl’s biological mother decides she wants her daughter back after giving up all rights fifteen years ago. The mentally ill woman is determined to reclaim her daughter. She takes her daughter on a harrowing journey to meet her biological father. Eventually the girl is reunited with her adoptive family.


Frank Drury offers readers a glimpse into the mind of a person with Bipolar Disorder. I liked reading this story because of the path it chose to take on the perception of mental illness. I have many years of experience in assessing mental illness behaviors, and could relate to how important it is for available treatment. This plot successfully shines much needed light upon a subject few understand. He accomplished this without sacrificing entertainment, suspense and romance. Drury brings together several subplots that are very important in today’s society: the struggles of a parent of an adopted child, the struggles of the child to come to terms with being given up for adoption, the emotional stress of the birth parents and most importantly the nightmare of dealing with a person suffering from bi-polar disorder. Until you have dealt with a person suffering from this debilitating disorder you cannot fully understand the pain of loving someone with this condition. This book is appropriate for young adults and adults.