Pieces of My Sister's Life
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Two sisters who shared everything. One unforgivable moment.
And a second chance…There’s something to talk about in every chapter of Elizabeth Joy Arnold’s poignant, insightful debut novel—the perfect summer read for all those who loved Elisabeth Robinson’s The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters, and Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper.
Once, Kerry and Eve Barnard did everything together: sailing the Block Island harbor with their father, listening to their neighbor Justin’s magical fairy tales, and all the while longing for their absent mother. They were twin girls arm in arm, secrets entwined between two hearts. Until the summer of their seventeenth birthday, when their extraordinary bond was shattered. And thirteen years later, it will take all the courage they can summon to put the pieces back together—at a time when it matters most.…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arnold's winning debut centers on a pair of identical twins, Kerry and Eve Barnard, who once "had one face, one body," one friend (Justin) and any number of abandonment issues. Having been left by their mom at age seven, the still-smarting sisters are crushed when, 10 years later, their father drowns off the coast of their small Block Island, R.I. town. Though they've no one else to turn to but each other, the twins quickly drift apart; introspective Kerry clings to Justin, a few years their senior, and dreams of a future with him. Eve, a competitive flirt, schemes to win Justin for herself while also pursuing a congressman and a police officer. The framing narrative finds Kerry looking back at the fateful summer from 13 years on and, while Eve is dying of cancer, struggling to face her sister and find peace for them both. It sounds confusing, but debut novelist Arnold never loses control of the complex interplay between past and present. Though a touch melodramatic, this well-observed story is vibrant and rich with the subtleties and nuances of family life; fans of Luanne Rice should clear a space in their beach totes.
