Three Story House
A Novel
-
-
3.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Renovating an historic Memphis house together, three cousins discover that their spectacular failures in love, career, and family provide the foundation for their future happiness in this warm and poignant novel from the author of The Roots of the Olive Tree that is reminiscent of The Postmistress, The Secret Life of Bees, and Kristin Hannah’s novels.
Nearing thirty and trying to avoid the inescapable fact that they have failed to live up to everyone’s expectations and their own aspirations, cousins and childhood best friends Lizzie, Elyse, and Isobel seek respite in an oddly-shaped, three-story house that sits on a bluff sixty feet above the Mississippi.
As they work to restore the almost condemned house, each woman faces uncomfortable truths about their own failings. Lizzie seeks answers to a long-held family secret about her father in her grandmother’s jumble of mementos and the home’s hidden spaces. Elyse’s obsession with an old flame leads her to a harrowing mistake that threatens to destroy her sister’s wedding, and Isobel’s quest for celebrity tempts her to betray confidences in ways that would irreparably damage her two cousins.
Told in three parts from the perspective of each of the women, this sharply observed account of the restoration of a house built out of spite, but filled with memories of love is also an account of friendship and how relying on each other’s insights and strengths provides the women a way to get what they need instead of what they want.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Santo (The Roots of the Olive Tree) turns home improvement into a metaphor for self-discovery in this well-crafted novel. Cousins Lizzie, Elyse, and Isobel have been inseparable since childhood, when their family dubbed them the "Triplins" a cross between cousins and triplets. Lizzie, under pressure by her estranged mother, reluctantly agrees to help save her late grandmother's Memphis home from demolition. After all, she's an elite soccer player who has just destroyed her ACL and has nothing but time on her hands. Hearing of Lizzie's state of affairs, Elyse, whose sister is about to marry the man of Elyse's dreams, and Isobel, a former child star at loose ends, join her. While slogging through the renovations, each woman must confront her own insecurities as well as a few surprising family secrets, including the truth of Lizzie's parentage. Told in three parts, each from a different triplin's point of view, the novel skillfully draws readers into its fictional world. Fans of historic homes will appreciate Santo's focus on the number of repairs beloved old houses often require.
