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Summary
Summary
What is one sister without the other? Is it even possible to imagine? New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice explores with the penetrating insight for which she is acclaimed to explore the complex emotional equations of love and loyalty that hold together three pairs of remarkable sisters---a bond that proves powerful and true even in the face of loss and tragedy. Here in the halls of Newport Academy, a unique private school that has attracted generations of rebels, outcasts, and visionaries, a poignant and unforgettable lesson in the eternal truths of sisterhood is about to begin. After years away, Maggie Shaw has returned to Newport to teach English at the academy. Behind her lies her life as the perfect midwestern wife and mother, a life that seemed on the surface to be all she had ever wished for. Ahead lie long-buried truths cracked open by the unfathomable loss of her husband and eldest daughter. Newport has never failed to infuse Maggie with a sense of mystery, romance, and hope. But for fourteen-year-old Beck, the move is a painful upheaval from everything she has ever loved--especially her sister, Carrie. Ever since her father and sister disappeared into the storm-tossed waters off Mackinac Island, Beck has retreated into the world of mathematics, where principles are permanent, unlike so many other things in life. Without Carrie, Beck has lost half of herself--the half that would have fit in at the elite private school she and her brother, Travis, will now attend. The half that made things right. Still, Beck clings to the hope that her sister will return. For her body remains undiscovered and only Beck knows about Carrie's last day, about her plans. Beck isn't alone in her struggle to adjust. At sixteen, Travis is juggling a long-distance first love and an attraction to an expensive-looking girl with a wicked sparkle in her eye. And for Maggie, ghosts linger here: an unresolved breach with her own beloved sister and a long-ago secret that may now have the power to set her free. Set against the breathtaking beauty of the New England coast at its most dramatic, populated by a cast of indelible characters,The Geometry of Sisters is Luanne Rice at her most compelling, a dazzling world to which readers will want to return again and again. From the Hardcover edition.
Author Notes
Novelist Luanne Rice was born in Old Lyme, Connecticut on September 25, 1955. She has written over twenty books and her stories, such as Home Fires and Cloud Nine, depict average people in emotionally complex situations. Many of her novels have been adapted into TV movies including Crazy in Love (1992) which starred Holly Hunter, Bill Pullman and Gena Rowlands, and Blue Moon (1999) which starred Sharon Lawrence, Kim Hunter and Richard Kiley. She currently splits her time between New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The prolific Rice contemplates class, family and math in this disappointing outing. After her husband dies and her eldest daughter, Carrie, runs away, Maggie Shaw moves her remaining brood-level-headed Travis and troubled Beck-from Ohio to Newport, R.I., where she will teach English at the prestigious Newport Academy, where the kids also enroll. Apathetic Beck strikes up an easy friendship with Lucy, who hopes her mathematical prowess will somehow help her bring back her own dead father. Rice's simple writing style suits the kids well, but doesn't work as well with Maggie, who has mixed feelings about reconnecting with her estranged sister. All the while, Maggie continues to search for the missing Carrie, who eventually steps onto the page to deliver her side of the story. Beck warms up as the narrative progresses, but the plot becomes increasingly and pointlessly convoluted, lending a soap opera feel to an initially promising setup. It starts strong, but falters and never recovers. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Maggie Shaw second-guesses herself all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to Newport, Rhode Island, after two tragedies threaten to tear her family apart. While on vacation, her husband drowned, and her oldest daughter Carrie ran away after surviving the accident. Maggie is uprooting her son Travis, the football star, and her fragile daughter Beck, who mourns the loss of her beloved sister, so she can support the family as a teacher at a unique private high school. Maggie's past is anchored to Newport, with her estranged sister and J. D., the man who drove a wedge between them, living nearby. Travis has no trouble fitting in, while Beck immerses herself in math and feels jealous of those whose sisters are still around. The whole family feels the loss of missing Carrie, and as Maggie tries to find her, she also finds a way back to her own sister. The always insightful and engaging Rice explores the mystical bond between sisters as she portrays families learning what it means to love and forgive. Rice's countless fans will rejoice.--Engelmann, Patty Copyright 2009 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter One On Labor Day my mother and brother piled the station wagon with all our things. Well, except for the ones that had already gone ahead, our furniture and books, on the Whiteflower Van Lines moving truck. So our car is packed with suitcases, duffel bags, Dad's hats, our computer, and our two cats. We stood on Lincoln Street in front of our house--I refuse to say "our old house," even though it's been sold and new people are about to move in--and Mom told us to say goodbye. I felt like an invisible girl observing the scene: Mom, shorter than I am, thin, shoulder-length brownish hair, wearing jeans and one of Dad's old shirts; Travis, a beanpole with shoulders from all that football, dark brown hair in his blue eyes, Dad's blue eyes--the men in our family have dark blue eyes, Carrie's are light blue, and Mom and I have hazel. Both Mom and Travis were looking at our house, white with green shutters--I painted those shutters with Carrie and Travis just last summer--and the two maple trees and the dogwoods and big magnolia in the front yard, shady and nice. Carrie taught me how to climb those trees. Mom looked up at Carrie's room. Travis stood there with his hands in his pockets, gaze as blank as the windows he was staring at. Actually, that's a lie. He had frown lines between his eyebrows. How could he not, about to leave the only house our family had ever known? Me, I refused to say goodbye. If you don't shut the door on something, it means you can always walk back through, right? Mom taped a note on the door. Can you believe that? As if Carrie is just going to walk up the sidewalk and read that we've gone to Newport. Just as if we've gone to the store, or to the ball field, and will meet her back here for dinner. It's sad, if you think about it. Not just that Carrie won't be home to read any note, but that Mom would even think of leaving one for her. Anyway, we turned and got in the car. Travis sits up front with Mom. I ride in back with the cats. Neither Travis nor I mention the note, but we do give each other a look. Strange, his eyebrows say to me. Whacked, my grimace says to him. So that's how we left Columbus: one of us snuffling, one of us frowning, one of us petting cats. At fourteen, almost fifteen, I'm too young to drive. But Travis is sixteen, so he helps Mom out, taking the wheel for hours at a stretch. They keep asking me if I want to pick the radio station, or if I'm hungry and want to stop, or if I need to use the restroom. But nothing can pry words out of me. I just ride in back, hunched up into a ball, reaching into the cat carriers to pet Desdemona and Grisby. Des is mine. Grisby was my sister's. I'm taking care of her now. I have what's called "stubborn anger." That's what the shrink said. Because everything is wrong. What happened last summer made me lose my mind. That's different from stubborn anger. That's not being able to stand the feeling of air on your skin because your sister is gone. For months afterward, I couldn't draw a breath without feeling someone had stuck a knife into my heart. My mother thinks it's just normal grief, but it's not. My grades, well, let's just say they have suffered. English, C; Earth Science, B2; Art, D; Geometry, A. I'm okay in math, so even though I haven't applied myself, I get by. I skipped regular math last year, went straight into high school geometry. The strange thing is, I've been dreaming in math. Figures, equations, notations--as if there was a problem to solve, and it involved numbers instead of words. Words get in the way. Numbers don't lie. We are two sisters; add us up. Carrie + Beck = Us. My friends have gathered round me... kind of, anyway. The ones who haven't deserted me, that is. The ones who still speak to me have held me up, carried me through. I couldn't have survived without them. I'm holding on to the fact that Excerpted from The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
