Product Description'Wise, provocative and wildly endearing' Guardian'Readably juicy and surreptitiously smart' Barbara KingsolverTHE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLERRosemary doesn't talk much, and about certain things she's silent. She had a sister, Fern, her whirlwind other half, who vanished from her life in circumstances she wishes she could forget. And it's been ten years since she last saw her beloved older brother Lowell.Now at college, Rosemary starts to see she can't go forward without going back to the time when aged five, she was sent away from home to her grandparents and returned to find Fern gone.It was Rosemary's parents who began all of the trouble - isn't it always? But, dear reader, exactly how they did it is a twist you'll have to discover for yourself.ReviewReadably juicy and surreptitiously smart-- Barbara KingsolverExplosive, provocative, and thoughtful-- Philippa GregoryA dark cautionary tale hanging out, incognito-style, in what at first seems a traditional family narrative-- Alice SeboldOne of the best novels I've read ever. It just destroyed me ... she's writing at the absolute top of her game-- Romola GaraiAn original and spontaneoustake on family that grabs you and doesn't let you go. -- Judy Blume ?ElleWise, provocative and wildly endearing ... achingly funny, deeply serious heart-breaker -- Liz Jensen ?GuardianFull of surprises, containing a real-life premise that beggars belief, a twist to rival anything in recent memory, and an ending that will have you in floods of tears -- Independent on SundayThere have been many books written about sibling love and rivalry but few, I'm sure, can rend the heart and bore beneath the skinquite like this one. I began lightly sobbing at about page 77 and continued intermittently until the end when the final few pages prompted a full-on, nose-blowing blubfest ... prepare to be charmed and traumatised-- Carol Midgley ?The TimesBoth one giant moral compass and a harrowing depiction of one family's tragic implosion, the prose zings on the pages -- Lucy Scholes ?ObserverOne of the most fabulous plot twistssince Magwitch was revealed as Pip's benefactor ... perceptive, poignant -- IndependentSo readably juicy and surreptitiously smart ... this is a story of every family in which loss engraves relationships, truth is a soulful stalker and coming-of-age means facing down the mirror, recognizing the shape-shifting notion of self -- Barbara Kingsolver ?New York Times Book ReviewWise, provocative and wildly endearing... Many a novel has devoted itself to exploring variations of Larkin's lament about what mums and dads do to their kid. But if any other book has done it as exhilaratingly as the achingly funny, deeply serious heart-breaker that is Fowler's 10th novel, and made it ring true for the whole of mankind, I've yet to read it. This is a moral comedy to shout about from the rooftops -- Liz Jensen ?GuardianKaren Joy Fowler has written the book she's always had in her to write. With all the quiet strangeness of her amazing arah Canary, and all the breezy wit and skillof her beloved Jane Austen Book Club, and a new, urgent gravity, she has told the story of an American family. An unusual family - but aren't all families unusual? A very American, an only-in-America family-and yet an everywhere family, whose children, parents, siblings, love one another very much, and damage one another badly. Does the love survive the damage? Will human beings survive the damage they do to the world they love so much? This is a strong, deep, sweet novel-- Ursula K Le GuinIt's been years since I've felt so passionate about a book. When I finished at 3 a.m., I wept, then I woke up the next morning, reread the ending, and cried all over again -- Ruth Oz
