Genres
Publication
Piatkus Books (2010), Edition: Export ed
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: "Lupton enters the highly charged ring where the best psychological detective writers spar... Like Kate Atkinson, Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell�?� Both tear-jerking and spine-tingling, Sister provides an adrenaline rush that could cause a chill on the sunniest afternoon." �??The New York Times Book Review When her mom calls to tell her that Tess, her younger sister, is missing, Bee returns home to London on the first flight. She expects to find Tess and give her the usual lecture, the bossy big sister scolding her flighty baby sister for taking off without letting anyone know her plans. Tess has always been a free spirit, an artist who takes risks, while conservative Bee couldn�??t be more different. Bee is used to watching out for her wayward sibling and is fiercely protective of Tess (and has always been a little stern about her antics). But then Tess is found dead, apparently by her own hand. Bee is certain that Tess didn�??t commit suicide. Their family and the police accept the sad reality, but Bee feels sure that Tess has been murdered. Single-minded in her search for a killer, Bee moves into Tess's apartment and throws herself headlong into her sister's life�??and all its secrets. Though her family and the police see a grieving sister in denial, unwilling to accept the facts, Bee uncovers the affair Tess was having with a married man and the pregnancy that resulted, and her difficultly with a stalker who may have crossed the line when Tess refused his advances. Tess was also participating in an experimental medical trial that might have gone very wrong. As a determined Bee gives her statement to the lead investigator, her story reveals a predator who got away with murder�??and an obsession that may cost Bee her own life. A thrilling story of fierce love between siblings, Sister is a suspenseful and accomplished debut with a st… (more)
Media reviews
[An] unusual and searing debut...
Lupton's crisp insights into grief and familial guilt are married to a confidently executed plot. Free from the genre's more mawkish excesses, Lupton's persuasive narrative voice is what keeps this classy debut on track.
Like Kate Atkinson, Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell, Lupton builds suspense not only around the causes and details of her story’s brutal denouement, but also around the personalities and motivations of those who lunge and those who duck..... Both tear-jerking and spine-tingling, “Sister”
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provides an adrenaline rush that could cause a chill on the sunniest afternoon — which, perhaps, the friendly company of a sister or two (or, in a pinch, a brother) might help to dispel. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member ijustgetbored
What a difficult novel to read, what a difficult novel to review. And I mean that as high praise for a work that is decidedly difficult to categorize.
Beatrice's younger sister, art-student Tess, has either committed suicide (official version) or been murdered (Beatrice's version) after giving birth
As Bee breaks down everything that we supposedly know about her sister and everything she thought she knew about herself, she starts to build up new connections that she never would have thought possible: in the wake of death, Lupton shows us how we can rebuild life. Mothers, fathers, new friends, neighbors: all emerge as solidly-drawn portraits of the new people (or newly-realized) people in Bee's life, each with his or her own distinct personality, style of interaction, and way of dealing with death. Death affects so many, Lupton seems to say, but look how it brings us together, see how we all cope so variously, see how we can never afford to make trite generalizations about what happens when a life is taken away.
The literary, mystery, suspense, epistolary: they all combine beautifully here, masterfully mixed by Lupton, who takes the best from each genre as she strings the reader along on a page-turning journey. Highly recommended.
Beatrice's younger sister, art-student Tess, has either committed suicide (official version) or been murdered (Beatrice's version) after giving birth
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to a stillborn child, who received a cutting-edge cystic fibrosis cure in utero. Bee flies home to England from New York, where she has been living, to cope with the aftermath of her sister's death. The story is a first-person narrative, delivered as if Bee is speaking across the space of death to her sister: apologizing, holding key facts back, rationalizing, explaining her own behavior, compensating-- in short, running through every human emotion and action that accompanies a severe shock and an immense grief. Bee's own process of self-discovery ties into her investigative process of the truth about her sister's death brilliantly: in finding the truth about her sister, Bee finds the truth about herself. Tess leads Bee to her own person through a twisting, winding path, and the journey is complex and wonderful.As Bee breaks down everything that we supposedly know about her sister and everything she thought she knew about herself, she starts to build up new connections that she never would have thought possible: in the wake of death, Lupton shows us how we can rebuild life. Mothers, fathers, new friends, neighbors: all emerge as solidly-drawn portraits of the new people (or newly-realized) people in Bee's life, each with his or her own distinct personality, style of interaction, and way of dealing with death. Death affects so many, Lupton seems to say, but look how it brings us together, see how we all cope so variously, see how we can never afford to make trite generalizations about what happens when a life is taken away.
The literary, mystery, suspense, epistolary: they all combine beautifully here, masterfully mixed by Lupton, who takes the best from each genre as she strings the reader along on a page-turning journey. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member readingwithtea
Dear Rosamund,
How dare you? I can't even start this review with a quote, I'm so furious. Sister is excellent. Magnificent. Just enough tension to be gripping without being terrifying (see my reaction to Mice). Plenty of sister-love. Lots of London-love. A nice bit of transatlantic "I wasn't there"
And then you went and RUINED IT with that wimp of an ending. A non-ending, if you will. A coda abbandonnata. You leave it up to the reader? Seriously? Who does that? You know who? Me. In my GCSE coursework. When I was 15. I studied Physics at uni so you should understand that I am the world's worst creative writer. Worse than Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer and every bosom-heaving, bodice-ripping, flower-despoiling romance writer there ever was. Even J.K. Rowling knew that we were not having it left up to the reader as to whether Ron and Hermione got together and had unfortunately-tressed mini-magicians, OK, she told us! In a terrible prologue which turned me off the franchise altogether, but she told us.
Do you realise that the whole book doesn't make sense if you don't resolve the ending? Only one half of it does? The only half only does if the ending goes one way, not the other? Because *can't rant about why because it would be a massive spoiler* - and therefore you haven't failed to write an ending, you've just forgotten to put the last 5 pages in - or not realised the logical fallacy.
OK? Have I made myself heard? I DID NOT LIKE THIS ENDING BECAUSE IT IS NOT AN ENDING, YOU LEFT OFF FIVE PAGES.
Right, now I can write the love letter to this book that I wanted to write until I got to the last page and there wasn't another one.
I love the double thread structure - one a letter from Beatrice (Bee) to younger sister Tess, who is the titular missing sibling; the other Bee recounting everything to someone else in a professional capacity. I only realised halfway through that the fact that Bee was telling everything to someone meant that the truth was definitely down one path. The double structure is a great way to make the plot both devastatingly personal and clinically precise.
I didn't see the ending coming at all, you pulled the old one-two on me there (I'm not ashamed, PI novel writers do it to me all the time), of course one of the most sympathetic characters turns out to be the baddie, and there's a chilling resolution rather than a neat one with handcuffs which starts out good until YOU FORGOT FIVE PAGES *calming down again*
London London London. Hyde Park in the snow. Those dreadful subterranean flats with slippery stairs in winter and lovely elderly landlords. The tube and the smell of "burned rubber sweat"; the abundance of daffodils and the torture of hayfever sufferers; the understaffed hospitals and the underclass of single mothers, alone in this huge city in which no one should be alone and yet everyone is. You got London.
Just like you got being a big sister. The fear of not being there. The need to be organised and ruthless and trade an exciting life for safety and comfort. Just like Rose in The Weird Sisters. The memories of time before there was a littler sibling, but not many of them.
There are lots of men in this novel, and I like it all the more for it. Unlike The Women, (the dreadful 2008 film) in which no men appear at all, here they're everywhere. There's Bea's fiancé, quite drippy and annoying and prejudicial but we like him anyway. There DS Finborough, a much better policeman than DI Haines, who is the embodiment of the Peter principle. There are three doctors, kind and overworked, whose personal and professional integrities waxe and wane during this tale.
I would have given you 10/10 and put you right up there with my top books for the year, except for that slip I mentioned earlier.
Yours disappointedly and also euphorically,
How dare you? I can't even start this review with a quote, I'm so furious. Sister is excellent. Magnificent. Just enough tension to be gripping without being terrifying (see my reaction to Mice). Plenty of sister-love. Lots of London-love. A nice bit of transatlantic "I wasn't there"
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guilt.And then you went and RUINED IT with that wimp of an ending. A non-ending, if you will. A coda abbandonnata. You leave it up to the reader? Seriously? Who does that? You know who? Me. In my GCSE coursework. When I was 15. I studied Physics at uni so you should understand that I am the world's worst creative writer. Worse than Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer and every bosom-heaving, bodice-ripping, flower-despoiling romance writer there ever was. Even J.K. Rowling knew that we were not having it left up to the reader as to whether Ron and Hermione got together and had unfortunately-tressed mini-magicians, OK, she told us! In a terrible prologue which turned me off the franchise altogether, but she told us.
Do you realise that the whole book doesn't make sense if you don't resolve the ending? Only one half of it does? The only half only does if the ending goes one way, not the other? Because *can't rant about why because it would be a massive spoiler* - and therefore you haven't failed to write an ending, you've just forgotten to put the last 5 pages in - or not realised the logical fallacy.
OK? Have I made myself heard? I DID NOT LIKE THIS ENDING BECAUSE IT IS NOT AN ENDING, YOU LEFT OFF FIVE PAGES.
Right, now I can write the love letter to this book that I wanted to write until I got to the last page and there wasn't another one.
I love the double thread structure - one a letter from Beatrice (Bee) to younger sister Tess, who is the titular missing sibling; the other Bee recounting everything to someone else in a professional capacity. I only realised halfway through that the fact that Bee was telling everything to someone meant that the truth was definitely down one path. The double structure is a great way to make the plot both devastatingly personal and clinically precise.
I didn't see the ending coming at all, you pulled the old one-two on me there (I'm not ashamed, PI novel writers do it to me all the time), of course one of the most sympathetic characters turns out to be the baddie, and there's a chilling resolution rather than a neat one with handcuffs which starts out good until YOU FORGOT FIVE PAGES *calming down again*
London London London. Hyde Park in the snow. Those dreadful subterranean flats with slippery stairs in winter and lovely elderly landlords. The tube and the smell of "burned rubber sweat"; the abundance of daffodils and the torture of hayfever sufferers; the understaffed hospitals and the underclass of single mothers, alone in this huge city in which no one should be alone and yet everyone is. You got London.
Just like you got being a big sister. The fear of not being there. The need to be organised and ruthless and trade an exciting life for safety and comfort. Just like Rose in The Weird Sisters. The memories of time before there was a littler sibling, but not many of them.
There are lots of men in this novel, and I like it all the more for it. Unlike The Women, (the dreadful 2008 film) in which no men appear at all, here they're everywhere. There's Bea's fiancé, quite drippy and annoying and prejudicial but we like him anyway. There DS Finborough, a much better policeman than DI Haines, who is the embodiment of the Peter principle. There are three doctors, kind and overworked, whose personal and professional integrities waxe and wane during this tale.
I would have given you 10/10 and put you right up there with my top books for the year, except for that slip I mentioned earlier.
Yours disappointedly and also euphorically,
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LibraryThing member mckait
Beatrice has moved to America from England. She has become
used to the distance both geographically, and emotionally,
from her sister Tess and their mother. She uses it as an excuse,
in fact. After all, she is busy with her career and her own life.
A phone call from her mother calls her back across
when she learns that Tess is missing. Tess, who was pregnant, and
struggling, has not been seen for far too long.
It would be unfair to suggest that it was only guilt that sent
Beatrice to the airport, because she did love her family, when
it wasn't too inconvenient. So, leaving life, career and fiance
behind, she arrived in England as soon as was humanly possible
after she received the call.
Before long, Bea realizes what she has been missing, while letting
her family get on without her all of this time. All of the love and
closeness to Tess comes flooding back. With it there is fear. She truly
did love Tess, and when she found her sister's body, could not believe the
verdict of suicide due to psychosis after after the death of her baby. Tess
would never kill herself, Bea was sure. Even after finding the body, and learning
that the baby Xavier had died, Bea felt something was being missed, and so she
set out to find the truth on her own.
What follows is a griping story, one that has you sure that you have
come to the end of the mystery, only to find that there is yet another twist.
By the time this breathtaking story concludes, you will be breathless with the
build up and the climax.
Don't miss this one.
used to the distance both geographically, and emotionally,
from her sister Tess and their mother. She uses it as an excuse,
in fact. After all, she is busy with her career and her own life.
A phone call from her mother calls her back across
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the Atlantic when she learns that Tess is missing. Tess, who was pregnant, and
struggling, has not been seen for far too long.
It would be unfair to suggest that it was only guilt that sent
Beatrice to the airport, because she did love her family, when
it wasn't too inconvenient. So, leaving life, career and fiance
behind, she arrived in England as soon as was humanly possible
after she received the call.
Before long, Bea realizes what she has been missing, while letting
her family get on without her all of this time. All of the love and
closeness to Tess comes flooding back. With it there is fear. She truly
did love Tess, and when she found her sister's body, could not believe the
verdict of suicide due to psychosis after after the death of her baby. Tess
would never kill herself, Bea was sure. Even after finding the body, and learning
that the baby Xavier had died, Bea felt something was being missed, and so she
set out to find the truth on her own.
What follows is a griping story, one that has you sure that you have
come to the end of the mystery, only to find that there is yet another twist.
By the time this breathtaking story concludes, you will be breathless with the
build up and the climax.
Don't miss this one.
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LibraryThing member cathyskye
First Line: Dearest Tess, I'd do anything to be with you, right now, right this moment, so I could hold your hand, look at your face, listen to your voice.
When Bee gets a call from her mother saying that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, Bee catches the first flight from New York City to
When the book opens, Bee is the tightly reined-in, responsible older sister, and Tess is an impulsive free spirit who sees the beauty in the world around her. The action unfolds as a letter from Bee to her sister, and as we get a clearer picture of the facts, we also see Bee begin to change as one person after another hinders her in trying to find her sister's killer. As the days pass, Bee learns that she didn't know her sister nearly as well as she thought she did-- a lesson that is difficult to learn at any age.
Although everyone else believes that Bee is is denial, with the advantage of Bee's letter to Tess, the reader knows she isn't; that there really is a case to be made for murder. But as Bee slowly loses her iron self control, she tells Tess that she's been keeping something from her-- and the reader is left to wonder just how reliable the older sister is as a narrator. Just what is Bee postponing telling Tess in that letter?
This book satisfies on so many levels. As a thriller, it keeps the reader guessing-- wondering just how unraveled Bee is becoming, wondering what really happened to Tess, wondering if Bee is putting herself in danger-- and as that thriller, everything is deftly plotted, and the pace is quick.
But this book is also an homage to the love one sister has for another. Although Tess is never met as a living person, through Bee's letter to her, we know her every bit as much as her sister does. By telling us about her sister, Bee learns about herself and shares what she learns.
It's true that this book will have even greater meaning to readers who have lost loved ones and experienced not only the aching loss, but the intense soul searching that often accompanies it. However, the true strength and beauty of this book is that it's not just a homage to grief, love and loss, it's also a wonderful character study and a first-rate suspense novel. With one book, Rosamund Lupton has become an author whose books I'll await with great anticipation.
When Bee gets a call from her mother saying that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, Bee catches the first flight from New York City to
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London. At first Bee believes that impulsive Tess is just being herself, but once she has a chance to walk through Tess's flat, Bee knows something is terribly wrong. When Tess's body is found a few days later, police are convinced that it's suicide, but Bee knows it's murder-- and will do everything in her power to provide justice for her beloved sister.When the book opens, Bee is the tightly reined-in, responsible older sister, and Tess is an impulsive free spirit who sees the beauty in the world around her. The action unfolds as a letter from Bee to her sister, and as we get a clearer picture of the facts, we also see Bee begin to change as one person after another hinders her in trying to find her sister's killer. As the days pass, Bee learns that she didn't know her sister nearly as well as she thought she did-- a lesson that is difficult to learn at any age.
Although everyone else believes that Bee is is denial, with the advantage of Bee's letter to Tess, the reader knows she isn't; that there really is a case to be made for murder. But as Bee slowly loses her iron self control, she tells Tess that she's been keeping something from her-- and the reader is left to wonder just how reliable the older sister is as a narrator. Just what is Bee postponing telling Tess in that letter?
This book satisfies on so many levels. As a thriller, it keeps the reader guessing-- wondering just how unraveled Bee is becoming, wondering what really happened to Tess, wondering if Bee is putting herself in danger-- and as that thriller, everything is deftly plotted, and the pace is quick.
But this book is also an homage to the love one sister has for another. Although Tess is never met as a living person, through Bee's letter to her, we know her every bit as much as her sister does. By telling us about her sister, Bee learns about herself and shares what she learns.
It's true that this book will have even greater meaning to readers who have lost loved ones and experienced not only the aching loss, but the intense soul searching that often accompanies it. However, the true strength and beauty of this book is that it's not just a homage to grief, love and loss, it's also a wonderful character study and a first-rate suspense novel. With one book, Rosamund Lupton has become an author whose books I'll await with great anticipation.
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LibraryThing member rmboland
I downloaded this novel as an ebook on my phone, and was in no hurry to start it. I tend to prefer the feel and solid comfort an actual book lends to my hands, but have recently succumbed to ebooks for the convenience. After reading this book, I can honestly say that I'm glad I became a flexible
Sister wasn't crime fiction for me, it was beyond that in ways I can't describe without having to add a 'spoiler alert' to this review. Every one of the protagonist's heartstrings seemed to be connected to mine, and when hers where tugged, my own followed suit. This storyline was fast paced, and easily absorbed you into the set surrounding it. I was Beatrice's number one supporter as she sought to acquire knowledge about her sister's mysterious death.
I couldn't swipe my fingers across the pages fast enough. One of the few books that left me wholly satisfied, beginning to end.
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reader.Sister wasn't crime fiction for me, it was beyond that in ways I can't describe without having to add a 'spoiler alert' to this review. Every one of the protagonist's heartstrings seemed to be connected to mine, and when hers where tugged, my own followed suit. This storyline was fast paced, and easily absorbed you into the set surrounding it. I was Beatrice's number one supporter as she sought to acquire knowledge about her sister's mysterious death.
I couldn't swipe my fingers across the pages fast enough. One of the few books that left me wholly satisfied, beginning to end.
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LibraryThing member Schatje
Having recently read and enjoyed Lupton’s second novel, "Afterwards", I decided to read her debut novel.
Beatrice’s younger sister, 21-year-old Tess, disappears. Beatrice rushes to London where Tess’s body is soon discovered. Her death is ruled a suicide but Bee adamantly refuses to believe
This book is a psychological thriller with a twist at the end. Though the end may come as a surprise, a cursory re-reading shows numerous clues woven throughout the narrative. There is also sufficient suspense interwoven. The number of suspects with credible motives grows, although at times Bee seems to grasp at straws in her increasing frustration with the police and desperation to find her sister’s killer.
Besides providing an interesting mystery, the book also touches on issues such as genetic therapy domestic abuse, and society’s perceptions of single mothers. The book’s strongest suit, however, is characterization. I loved Kasia, Tess’s Polish friend who wants to learn English but refuses “to learn the negative words, a linguistic head-in-the-sand policy. But on the positive ones she’s forging ahead, even learning colloquialisms.” Equally appealing is Amias, Tess’s elderly landlord, who plants Tess’s favourite daffodil bulbs in the frozen ground on a dark night.
Of course it is the relationship between Bee and Tess that is at the heart of the novel. The two are foils in many ways. Bee is reserved and very security-conscious while Tess was unconventional, gregarious and artistic. As Bee investigates her sister’s death, she discovers that she and Tess were more similar that she had believed. Bee also examines her relationship with her sister and though others question whether their bond was as close as she believed, she has no doubts: “[Y]ou are my sister in every fiber of my being. And that fiber is visible – two strands of DNA twisted in a double helix in every cell of my body – proving, visibly, that we are sisters. But there are other strands that link us, that wouldn’t be seen by even the strongest of electron microscopes. . . . We are conjoined by hundreds of thousands of memories that silt down into you and stop being memories and become a part of what you are.”
Bee is a dynamic character; she herself admits, “But, astonishingly, I’m not broken. I’m not destroyed. Terrified witless, shaking, retching with fear, yes. But no longer insecure. Because during my search for how you died, I somehow found myself to be a different person.” The author’s gradual revealing of this growth in Bee as she persists in her search for the truth gives this book another dimension.
For a quick but absorbing read, this novel is definitely worth a try.
Beatrice’s younger sister, 21-year-old Tess, disappears. Beatrice rushes to London where Tess’s body is soon discovered. Her death is ruled a suicide but Bee adamantly refuses to believe
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this explanation; suspecting foul play, she sets out to do her own investigation. The novel is written as a long letter from Bee to Tess detailing her struggle to learn how and why Tess died. This book is a psychological thriller with a twist at the end. Though the end may come as a surprise, a cursory re-reading shows numerous clues woven throughout the narrative. There is also sufficient suspense interwoven. The number of suspects with credible motives grows, although at times Bee seems to grasp at straws in her increasing frustration with the police and desperation to find her sister’s killer.
Besides providing an interesting mystery, the book also touches on issues such as genetic therapy domestic abuse, and society’s perceptions of single mothers. The book’s strongest suit, however, is characterization. I loved Kasia, Tess’s Polish friend who wants to learn English but refuses “to learn the negative words, a linguistic head-in-the-sand policy. But on the positive ones she’s forging ahead, even learning colloquialisms.” Equally appealing is Amias, Tess’s elderly landlord, who plants Tess’s favourite daffodil bulbs in the frozen ground on a dark night.
Of course it is the relationship between Bee and Tess that is at the heart of the novel. The two are foils in many ways. Bee is reserved and very security-conscious while Tess was unconventional, gregarious and artistic. As Bee investigates her sister’s death, she discovers that she and Tess were more similar that she had believed. Bee also examines her relationship with her sister and though others question whether their bond was as close as she believed, she has no doubts: “[Y]ou are my sister in every fiber of my being. And that fiber is visible – two strands of DNA twisted in a double helix in every cell of my body – proving, visibly, that we are sisters. But there are other strands that link us, that wouldn’t be seen by even the strongest of electron microscopes. . . . We are conjoined by hundreds of thousands of memories that silt down into you and stop being memories and become a part of what you are.”
Bee is a dynamic character; she herself admits, “But, astonishingly, I’m not broken. I’m not destroyed. Terrified witless, shaking, retching with fear, yes. But no longer insecure. Because during my search for how you died, I somehow found myself to be a different person.” The author’s gradual revealing of this growth in Bee as she persists in her search for the truth gives this book another dimension.
For a quick but absorbing read, this novel is definitely worth a try.
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LibraryThing member Maydacat
Sister is compelling tale, with an undercurrent of subdued terror. Almost without realizing it, the reader will share the slowly growing frustration and fear that envelopes Bee as she delves into her sister’s disappearance. The story is told as letters to her sister, and while the passage of time
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is sometimes hard to ascertain, it all becomes clear as the novel twists to its conclusion. With vivid characters and a subplot of sisterly devotion, this is one story you won’t be able to abandon before the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member spoiledrotten
I found that the author of this book just droned on and on without getting to the point. The ending was a total letdown and unbelievable .
LibraryThing member kmaziarz
Beatrice Hemmings is convinced that her younger sister Tess, a vibrant, life-loving artist, would never have committed suicide. But she is the only one who believes that; everyone else believes that Tess was suffering from postpartum psychosis following the stillbirth of her child and took her own
Literary, intelligent, and defying easy genre classification, Lupton’s debut is both a moving meditation on grief and also a gripping psychological thriller. Recommended.
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life in a fit of despair or hallucination. Beatrice, determined to get to the truth, sets out to investigate her sister’s death, relating her progress in the form of an extended letter to her sister. As her investigations proceed and everyone around her begins to believe that Beatrice, too, has been unhinged by grief, the reader will wonder the same thing. Was Tess murdered? Is Beatrice simply unable to accept the truth? Not until the explosive and gripping conclusion will the answers to everyone’s questions become plain.Literary, intelligent, and defying easy genre classification, Lupton’s debut is both a moving meditation on grief and also a gripping psychological thriller. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Quiltinfun06
Rosamund Lupton has written an amazing debut novel Sister. Sister is a captivating mystery surrounding the death of a woman named Tess. Tess's sister, Bee, lives in Manhattan while Tess and their mom live in London. Tess and Beatrice are extremely close especially after the death of their little
This is a tightly wound story written in a narrative form that flows and captivates the reader. Incredibly hard to put down until the last page is read; I highly recommend this powerful book to those who love mysteries, science and their sisters.
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brother who died at age 8 from cystic fibrosis. When their mom calls Bee in NY to tell her that Tess has gone missing, Bee immediately flies to London and begins her search for her sister. It is a search that becomes the search for a killer. As Tess's body is found; Bee becomes determined to solve the mystery of her death.This is a tightly wound story written in a narrative form that flows and captivates the reader. Incredibly hard to put down until the last page is read; I highly recommend this powerful book to those who love mysteries, science and their sisters.
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LibraryThing member eachurch
Sometimes just after I start reading a book, I read the end. I'm glad that I didn't do that with 'Sister.' Although it was apparent that something wasn't quite right with the narrator's tale, I didn't guess what it was. When it became clear, it made sense which is a credit to Lupton. Overall, it
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was a well written, enjoyable book. Show Less
LibraryThing member littleton_pace
Refreshingly brilliant in my opinion!
I've gone through a spate of sub-par horrible books in my To-Read pile lately, and I was worried about this one, too! I needn't have been. It's wonderful. And a lesson to authors how to create 3D characters even if they have the smallest role in the story.
I
I will say that it's not much of a light-hearted read, but it is exciting and definitely a page-turner.
If you're looking for a good one-off book to read, this is it!
I've gone through a spate of sub-par horrible books in my To-Read pile lately, and I was worried about this one, too! I needn't have been. It's wonderful. And a lesson to authors how to create 3D characters even if they have the smallest role in the story.
I
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normally am free with spoilers in my reviews, but I'll hold off this time because I think it's worth the read to get the pay off that I got by the end of the book. I will say that it's not much of a light-hearted read, but it is exciting and definitely a page-turner.
If you're looking for a good one-off book to read, this is it!
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LibraryThing member Amsa1959
I really liked this novel. I got hooked from the start. It´s well written and you can´t stop reading because you have to find out what has happened and what IS happening. It´s much more than a mystery novel. It´s a novel about love, loss, relations, ethics. Read it!
LibraryThing member christinelstanley
This book is fabulous. It’s a crime novel, but the narrative is unique and tender. It’s a slower paced book, with lots of detail, but it’s all needed, there are no superfluous passages. The story is about finding the killer of an art student in London, however, we learn far more about the
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devotion between two sisters and their mother. There are some surprises along the way and some heartbreaking moments. Rosamund Lupton writes beautifully and I hope she writes more novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
Sister is narrated by Beatrice, a twenty-something woman who has flown home to London from her life in New York because her younger sister, twenty-one year old Tess, has gone missing. Beatrice, or Bee as Tess would call her, writes a letter to her sister which in part describes the events
The book is basically a love letter from one sister to another and in that context it is a superb piece of writing. It delves into all the nuances of the relationship; the shared memories (good and bad), the slights (real and imagined), the words that were said and those that would have been taken back should the universe allow. It is a marvellous portrait of both the bond between the two sisters and the grief one feels at the unexpected disappearance of the other.
Where Tess is fun-loving, gregarious and artistic, Beatrice is reserved, seeks security and does not normally stand up for herself but over the course of the story Beatrice goes through a fairly fundamental shift in her personality which is, again, credibly drawn out. We also see Beatrice develop a deeper understanding of her mother’s motivations for various actions and behaviour and this relationship too is an interesting one to watch as it develops into one of adult equals more than parent and child.
I must admit I found the whodunnit element of the book less successful. It was so clunky in a couple of places I actually wondered someone (author or publisher) had pushed to squeeze the manuscript more deeply into a genre (I thought the prominently positioned pull quote from Jeffrey Deaver on the edition I read was serving the same, somewhat misguided, purpose). I’m out of touch with what’s hot in publishing circles right now but I think this would have been just as good a book, perhaps an even better one, without this somewhat clumsy element.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the book as a whole because the relationship of the sisters is depicted with a finesse and thoughtfulness you rarely see, particularly from a début author. I also had the added bonus of an outstanding narration of the audio book by Juanita McMahon. I’d read the first chapter or so of the book in print form (on someone else’s kindle) before reaching the top of the library’s audio queue (long before I was ever going to get near the top of the print queue). McMahon’s depiction of Bee was just as I had imagined.
My rating 3.5 stars
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surrounding her disappearance and in part is a memoir of their sisterhood, warts and all.The book is basically a love letter from one sister to another and in that context it is a superb piece of writing. It delves into all the nuances of the relationship; the shared memories (good and bad), the slights (real and imagined), the words that were said and those that would have been taken back should the universe allow. It is a marvellous portrait of both the bond between the two sisters and the grief one feels at the unexpected disappearance of the other.
Where Tess is fun-loving, gregarious and artistic, Beatrice is reserved, seeks security and does not normally stand up for herself but over the course of the story Beatrice goes through a fairly fundamental shift in her personality which is, again, credibly drawn out. We also see Beatrice develop a deeper understanding of her mother’s motivations for various actions and behaviour and this relationship too is an interesting one to watch as it develops into one of adult equals more than parent and child.
I must admit I found the whodunnit element of the book less successful. It was so clunky in a couple of places I actually wondered someone (author or publisher) had pushed to squeeze the manuscript more deeply into a genre (I thought the prominently positioned pull quote from Jeffrey Deaver on the edition I read was serving the same, somewhat misguided, purpose). I’m out of touch with what’s hot in publishing circles right now but I think this would have been just as good a book, perhaps an even better one, without this somewhat clumsy element.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the book as a whole because the relationship of the sisters is depicted with a finesse and thoughtfulness you rarely see, particularly from a début author. I also had the added bonus of an outstanding narration of the audio book by Juanita McMahon. I’d read the first chapter or so of the book in print form (on someone else’s kindle) before reaching the top of the library’s audio queue (long before I was ever going to get near the top of the print queue). McMahon’s depiction of Bee was just as I had imagined.
My rating 3.5 stars
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LibraryThing member kraaivrouw
I thoroughly enjoyed Sister, finding it beautifully written and told in an unusual manner - as a sort of long-form mental letter from the surviving sibling to the one who didn't make it. Having gone through my father's death last year, I appreciated how well Ms. Lupton captured the disjointed,
The thread of sisterhood is woven throughout the book. Tess and Bee are so very different - one buttoned down and uptight, always settling for less; the other - free-spirited, refusing to stay in the box. It's interesting to watch Tess unclench, clean her own house, and begin to make new choices for how to live her life. The reader is drawn into the relationship between sisters and this relationship underlines the crime narrative and makes you care deeply about what happened to a victim. This is different than most crime fiction where the victim is often the least important character in the book.
This marks the debut of a talented new literary voice. I can't wait to read more from Ms. Lupton!
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surreal feeling of grief from the immediate sharpness to later periods when you feel good about your memories and then are mugged by them.The thread of sisterhood is woven throughout the book. Tess and Bee are so very different - one buttoned down and uptight, always settling for less; the other - free-spirited, refusing to stay in the box. It's interesting to watch Tess unclench, clean her own house, and begin to make new choices for how to live her life. The reader is drawn into the relationship between sisters and this relationship underlines the crime narrative and makes you care deeply about what happened to a victim. This is different than most crime fiction where the victim is often the least important character in the book.
This marks the debut of a talented new literary voice. I can't wait to read more from Ms. Lupton!
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LibraryThing member karensaville
The story of one sister trying to find another. She pieces together her last movements and ultimately finds out what happened to her. There is an interesting twist to the story that I didn't really like but it was a very good read that I looked forward to every night. I thought it was very well
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written and clever. Read in Nov2010 Show Less
LibraryThing member sophiebum89
A compelling read that had me gripped from the first page. I sympathised with the characters and felt the emotions. Well written and researched. However, I personally found the twist at the end predictable. I would recommend this book to people who like a 'whodunnit' style of writing.
LibraryThing member HeyYeah
Quick & enjoyable page-turning read. Quite moving in places.
LibraryThing member bookmagic
I loved this book and if I could have stayed up all night reading it, I would have.
Beatrice flies home to London when her mom calls to tell her that her sister Tess has been missing for several days. When the police find Tess dead, with her wrists slit they rule it a suicide, stating she suffered
Not only was this novel a great suspense but a poignant story of two sisters. Because Beatrice telling this story not just to a prosecutor, she is telling the story to Tess, learning about her sister and about herself. It was a fantastic novel and I highly recommend it.
my rating 5/5
Beatrice flies home to London when her mom calls to tell her that her sister Tess has been missing for several days. When the police find Tess dead, with her wrists slit they rule it a suicide, stating she suffered
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from postpartum psychosis after giving birth to a stillborn baby. But Beatrice does not believe this, especially when she finds out the father of Tess's baby is married with a child on the way, plus Tess had a stalker and told her landlord she was in fear for her life. Tess's baby also had cystic fibrosis and she was in a trial to cure this in utero with gene therapy. Everyone thinks Beatrice is grasping at straws but she will not accept that Tess killed herself and investigates what happened herself. The story is told as Beatrice is telling this to a prosecutor before the trial of Tess's murderer. So we know she was murdered but not by who. But the ending was not at all what I had anticipated.Not only was this novel a great suspense but a poignant story of two sisters. Because Beatrice telling this story not just to a prosecutor, she is telling the story to Tess, learning about her sister and about herself. It was a fantastic novel and I highly recommend it.
my rating 5/5
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LibraryThing member lilywren
Books are certainly interesting and, like people, to each ones own. We are all different,which is a good thing, but yet I feel somewhat alone in my review about 'Sister'. What's wrong with me? Why didn't I like it when everyone else seems to love it? Am I the person you will 'always find alone in
Nonetheless, and at the risk of being cast asunder, I shall continue in vain with my 'stick out like a sore thumb' review.
It took me some time to get through reading Sister. I'm not sure why. On paper it would be the book for me. I enjoy the crime, thriller, drama, relationships genre book. But for some reason Sister never took me to the 'I can't put it down' stage. Don't get me wrong, the writing is good, fast paced and easy to follow. However, I just couldn't take to the characters at all. I couldn't get the real sense that Bee (the main character) was actually going through the emotions she was stating. Even though the narrative is being told in the first person, Bee's emotions felt a little shallow, one dimensional and simplistic. I also found the character somewhat grating and was alarmed to find that I just did not care about what was happening to her or anyone else in the book. How could I be so heartless? I just didn't care....not like me at all. I couldn't drum up any empathy for the character or find her at all believeable. And..I just didn't care.
Oh dear. So why carry on reading? Well, I hate starting a book and not finishing it. I had to continue to the end where I discovered a 'twist' which, like the characters, left me feeling 'and?...so?'
The book felt a little hurried. It seemed to me that everything the author could think of was crammed into the story including certain characters who, at times, I felt added nothing to the story and need not have been there.
That said, I couldn't write such a book and so many people have enjoyed 'Sister'. Who am I to argue? I hate reviewing books that I didn't really enjoy and reviewing in such a negative way. It is something I rarely do. I just felt the need to. After having read so many good reviews of the book I started to wonder if I really had read a different book. I just want to see if there are any other folk out there, like me, who didn't enjoy it as much.
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the kitchen at parties?!' And, more importantly, do I have bad breath and body odour?Nonetheless, and at the risk of being cast asunder, I shall continue in vain with my 'stick out like a sore thumb' review.
It took me some time to get through reading Sister. I'm not sure why. On paper it would be the book for me. I enjoy the crime, thriller, drama, relationships genre book. But for some reason Sister never took me to the 'I can't put it down' stage. Don't get me wrong, the writing is good, fast paced and easy to follow. However, I just couldn't take to the characters at all. I couldn't get the real sense that Bee (the main character) was actually going through the emotions she was stating. Even though the narrative is being told in the first person, Bee's emotions felt a little shallow, one dimensional and simplistic. I also found the character somewhat grating and was alarmed to find that I just did not care about what was happening to her or anyone else in the book. How could I be so heartless? I just didn't care....not like me at all. I couldn't drum up any empathy for the character or find her at all believeable. And..I just didn't care.
Oh dear. So why carry on reading? Well, I hate starting a book and not finishing it. I had to continue to the end where I discovered a 'twist' which, like the characters, left me feeling 'and?...so?'
The book felt a little hurried. It seemed to me that everything the author could think of was crammed into the story including certain characters who, at times, I felt added nothing to the story and need not have been there.
That said, I couldn't write such a book and so many people have enjoyed 'Sister'. Who am I to argue? I hate reviewing books that I didn't really enjoy and reviewing in such a negative way. It is something I rarely do. I just felt the need to. After having read so many good reviews of the book I started to wonder if I really had read a different book. I just want to see if there are any other folk out there, like me, who didn't enjoy it as much.
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LibraryThing member creighley
Compelling drama....Bea has come back to London when her mother called to say that her sister, Tess, was missing. Tess was a person who always took the "free and artsy" way to life, and her sister, Bea, was more staid. The police are convinced that Tess took her own life. Bea, however, feels
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otherwise and is looking for the connection between the death of her child and Tess's death. Show Less
LibraryThing member Twink
I took one book on vacation with me and Sister by Rosamund Lupton was it. Thank goodness I waited until I was on the train home to start it - I would not have been able to put it down. What an absolutely addicting read.
Sister is told as a past tense narrative in letter form by Tess to her younger
"You painted abstract canvases, expressing large truths in bold splashes of vivid color while I was perfectly suited to my job in corporate design, matching every color in the world to a Pantone number. Lacking your ability with broad brushstrokes I will tell you this story in accurate dots of detail. I'm hoping that as in a pointillistic painting, the dots will form a picture and when it is completed, we will understand what happened and why."
Lupton deliciously and slowly inserts details into every chapter, gradually filling us in on what has already happened. We learn that Tess is being interviewed by a lawyer and her statement recorded. What did Tess discover? What happened to Bee? What is happening to Tess? As the interviews continue over the course of several days, her health seems to be failing.
Sister is a fantastic mystery, but also a beautiful retrospective of the love between the two sisters. Lupton's prose are thoughtful, evoking emotion easily.
There were numerous suspects possible, but I am thrilled to say that I never saw the ending coming. Planning to read this one? DO NOT read the end first.
Best. Twist. Ending. Ever.
This was a debut for Lupton - I will be hunting down her second book for sure.
Sister is told as a past tense narrative in letter form by Tess to her younger
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sister Bee. We learn early on that Bee is dead. Was it suicide? Everyone but Tess believes so. The account follows Tess's attempts to make sense of what had happened to Bee. She was so full of life - she couldn't have possibly chose to end it."You painted abstract canvases, expressing large truths in bold splashes of vivid color while I was perfectly suited to my job in corporate design, matching every color in the world to a Pantone number. Lacking your ability with broad brushstrokes I will tell you this story in accurate dots of detail. I'm hoping that as in a pointillistic painting, the dots will form a picture and when it is completed, we will understand what happened and why."
Lupton deliciously and slowly inserts details into every chapter, gradually filling us in on what has already happened. We learn that Tess is being interviewed by a lawyer and her statement recorded. What did Tess discover? What happened to Bee? What is happening to Tess? As the interviews continue over the course of several days, her health seems to be failing.
Sister is a fantastic mystery, but also a beautiful retrospective of the love between the two sisters. Lupton's prose are thoughtful, evoking emotion easily.
There were numerous suspects possible, but I am thrilled to say that I never saw the ending coming. Planning to read this one? DO NOT read the end first.
Best. Twist. Ending. Ever.
This was a debut for Lupton - I will be hunting down her second book for sure.
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LibraryThing member LorenaBBooks
I LOVED this book. I started it after reading a not so good book and I actually read it all in one day! It was my book club pick and I am going to rave about it! A poignant story about a woman whose sister disappears and she writes a letter about how she feels and her actions.
LibraryThing member SalemAthenaeum
When Bee's mother calls to tell her that her sister Tess is missing, Bee returns to London on the first available flight. The expected reality of finding and scolding her younger sibling for running off again is harshly altered when Tess is found dead, apparently by her own hand. Bee's denial of
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Tess committing suicide leads to an obsession that begins to threaten her own life when she uncovers various secrets of Tess' former life. Show Less
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2011)
Waverton Good Read Award (Shortlist — 2011)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2011)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010 (UK)
2011 (US)
ISBN
0749942061 / 9780749942069