The Precious One
A Novel
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Belong to Me, Love Walked In, and Falling Together comes a captivating novel about friendship, family, second chances, and the redemptive power of love.
In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary—professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.
Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline, and their daughter, Willow, only once.
Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister—a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust, and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?
Told in alternating voices—Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings—The Precious One is an unforgettable novel of family secrets, lost love, and dangerous obsession, a captivating tale with the deep characterization, piercing emotional resonance, and heartfelt insight that are the hallmarks of Marisa de los Santos’s beloved works.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two sisters struggle to please their smart, manipulative, and narcissistic father, in bestseller de los Santos's (Falling Together) newest family drama. For 17 years, Taisy Cleary (now 35), along with her mother and her brother, Marcus, have had minimal contact with her father, Wilson. When Wilson beckons after suffering a major heart attack, Taisy, who still yearns for his approval, requires little persuasion to come to his side. Sixteen-year-old Willow is Wilson's other daughter (Wilson left Taisy's family to be with Willow's mother). Willow has been sheltered and controlled by her father her entire life he forbade her from watching television or movies or reading books written later than the 19th century but she's jarred into the real world following his heart attack. To Taisy, Willow has always been the golden child the one Wilson chose to love. To Willow, Taisy and Marcus are the seedy others, the "earlier ones." The sisters' shaky relationship is altered when Taisy learns of Willow's inappropriate relationship with an older man. The slow fracturing of each sister's perception of the other and the strong three-dimensional characters are exceptionally well crafted. And the predictability of the ending is more than made up for by the fact that de los Santos's characters' journeys are perfectly paced.
