A beautifully written memoir maps a woman's search for the
truth about her beloved sister's life--and her mysterious death.
Novelist Sheila Kohler's
first book of nonfiction, Once We Were Sisters, is an achingly
beautiful memoir. The story probes Kohler's relationship with her sister,
Maxine--two years older--and the bond they shared in life and in death. When
Maxine was 39 years old, the devoted wife and mother of six was killed in a
mysterious car crash that Kohler strongly believes was intentional. The driver
of the car was Maxine's abusive husband--a successful and renowned heart
surgeon with a relentless dark side. He survived the crash.
Telling the story more than 35 years later, Kohler
(The Bay of Foxes) seeks to find answers,
identify the forces that precipitated Maxine's death and untangle her sister's
life from her own. Despite their contrasting personalities, the two were close
during a privileged upbringing in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. They
studied at exclusive boarding schools and later traveled abroad together. The
death of their father in their youth, and a mother who frequently departed into
her own alcohol-infused world, marked their lives, and both sisters married
philandering husbands.
Kohler's search for literal and
emotional truths, her abiding love for her sister--along with guilt and
regret--propel this succinct narrative. Maxine's shattering death has deeply
permeated and haunted every aspect of Kohler's life, especially her writing.
Thankfully, the years have finally granted this gifted fiction writer the
perspective and liberation to share her own story.
Penguin, $16.00 Paper, 9780143129295, 256 pages
Publication
Date: January 17, 2017
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this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE
NOTE: This
review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read
this review on Shelf Awareness:
Reader's Edition (February
7, 2017), link HERE
