Take two, fatherless half-sisters. Make
one sister, Sky, an obedient, play-it-safe type. Portray the other, Tara, as a
reckless, no-holds-barred younger sister rebel. Reinforce their differences by
designating different typeface fonts that reflect the distinct voice of each
sister as they narrate this story via alternating, first person points of view
and what emerges is A
Gift for My Sister by Ann
Pearlman (The
Christmas Cookie Club), a moving, deeply resonant novel.
The story begins with Sky, a happily
married lawyer with a young daughter who resides in a California beachfront
condo. Beyond her seemingly idyllic life, 30-something Sky is riddled with
bitterness and worry incurred from a past marred by challenges and loss--the
death of her father when she was a teenager, miscarriages and the passing of
her best friend. Tara, on the other hand, is a free spirit whose father
abandoned her. In high school, she entered into an interracial romance with an
ex-juvenile prison inmate and became pregnant. With beau and baby in tow, Troy
took off to pursue her dreams of becoming a musician and is now on the verge rap
music superstardom.
When tragedy strikes, Sky and Tara are
forced to reunite. By rendering shared experiences via their opposing
personalities and viewpoints, Pearlman
skillfully evokes empathy on both sides. Resentment, rivalry, fear of love and
loss and the idea of forgiveness infuse what ultimately becomes a road-trip
novel--from California to Michigan--where the sisters try to understand each
other, the complications of their own lives and the larger ramifications of
family.
Atria/Emily
Bestler Books, $24.99, Hardcover, 9781439159491, 288 pp
Publication
Date: May 1, 2012
To order this
book via INDIEBOUND link HERE
Please note: This review is a
reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission
of Shelf Awareness.
To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (5/29/12),
click HERE.
