Sandcastles
A Novel
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Luanne Rice is that rarest of all novelists who indelibly captures the defining moments in our lives. In this acclaimed bestseller, she takes readers on an unforgettable exploration of the most elusive miracle of all: how a broken family might be made whole again.
Painter Honor Sullivan had the perfect love and the perfect life with her husband, a renowned photographer and sculptor—until the day John’s passions led him to disaster, shattering their family and her heart. Since then, Honor has struggled to make a safe haven for herself and their three daughters at Star of the Sea Academy on the magical Connecticut shore.
Now, years later, a mysterious letter in a familiar hand hints at John’s return to the family he’s always loved more than anything on earth. It will take nothing short of a miracle to heal the rift between father and daughters, husband and wife, the past and the present—but a miracle is exactly what is in the making at Star of the Sea Academy. The only question is: Do you believe?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Given the title, July 4 pub date and settings on the Connecticut shore and County Cork coast, readers may expect the consummate beach feast from bestselling Rice (Summer of Roses). She almost delivers: all the ingredients for a clambake are here, but Rice doesn't bother to light the fire. Honor Sullivan is a woman torn apart. Her famous earthworks artist husband, John, has spent six years in an Irish prison for killing a man who attacked their then 14-year-old daughter, Regis. Now he's back at Star of the Sea Academy, the convent and school in Connecticut where the Sullivans live and teach or rather, is in the area, but hesitant to return home and face Honor's ire at being effectively abandoned. His notes find their way to Honor, perhaps via Sister Bernadette Ignatius, who runs the community and is John's sister, and Auntie Bernie to John and Honor's daughters. Or perhaps they come via Tom Kelly, still in love with Bernie and bone-loyal to John. Add a little moonlight mysticism, Regis's impending bad marriage and a red-haired nurse given up for adoption the same year Tom and red-haired Bernie went off to Ireland to trace family roots. If only Rice seemed to care. If only she didn't craft an entire paragraph out of the word "Moonstones," which will have fans wistfully recalling nuanced Rice fiction like Blue Moon.
