The Sand Castle
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A family trip to Chesapeake Bay holds life-changing revelations in this Runnymede novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle.
It's August 1952, and seven-year-old Nickel—otherwise known as Nicole—sets off for a day at the beach with her mother, Juts, aunt Wheezie, and eight-year-old cousin Leroy. Chesapeake Bay is beautiful in summer, but Leroy, who recently lost his mother, is frightened of the world around him. While Nickel delights in tormenting her cousin, the group begins work on a magnificent sand castle. And in an effort to coax Leroy out of his shell, the sisters tell stories of their own childhood trips to the shore.
As the sun swings higher in the sky, and uncomfortable family history rises to the surface, Nickel's taunting escalates until a frightening event draws them back together. It isn't until years later that Nickel can see that single day at the beach for what it truly was—a life-changing lesson about family and all the pleasure and heartbreak that comes with it.
Beginning with Six of One, Rita Mae Brown's novels of Southern sisters Juts and Wheezie Hunsenmeir have won critical praise and millions of readers worldwide. Now Brown's beloved characters from Runnymede, Maryland, "are back and irascible as ever" in The Sand Castle (Publishers Weekly).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Feisty Southern sisters Juts and Wheezy, of bestselling author Brown's Six of One trilogy, are back and as irascible as ever. The story unfolds in a single summer day in 1952, when the two make a day-trip to the beach accompanied by Jut's seven-year-old daughter, Nickel, and Wheezie's grandson, eight-year-old Leroy, whose mother has recently died. The day's events are simple: a long drive to the beach, the building of an elaborate sandcastle, a spat between sisters, lunch at a crab shack, a sudden injury and the drive back home. Brown creates palpable tension throughout, largely with tightly constructed dialogue. Nickel's teasing of grieving Leroy foreshadows the small catastrophe to come, and her cruelty contrasts with Juts's awkward attempts to draw her newly religious sister, still mourning the death of her daughter (Leroy's mother), back into the world. When the four return from lunch, Leroy receives a wound that rivals his inner pain. The sisters' collective response and Leroy's eventual release into sadness shape the end of the day, but not of the novel: the final three paragraphs elevate this tale from bittersweet to heartbreaking.
