August 1, 2015
In 1953, rumors fly when aspiring music teacher Nettie Gilbert drops out of Columbia College just days before her senior recital. A letter from her mother shares the news of her sister's upcoming nuptials to Brooks--to Nettie's own fiance. Devastated and in search of a source of income, Nettie takes on the role of caretaker for an ailing spinster and her sister. Country doctor Remmy Wilkes dreamed of working in a city hospital with more prestige. When an accident devastates his family and leaves his sister paralyzed he finds himself making house visits in his hometown. A strong romantic thread between Nettie and Dr. Wilkes is present, but the bonds between siblings are at the center of this novel about forgiveness and redemption. Traveling with the sisters across the country in search of a faith healer allows Nettie to see her own need for healing. VERDICT Although Boykin's latest (after Palmetto Moon) has heart, the author's inclusion of four points of view and constantly switching narratives loses momentum and makes it difficult to enter the characters' worlds. Readers looking for women's fiction with sibling relationship themes might prefer Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper or Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry.--Julia M. Reffner, Midlothian, VA
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