Story Description:
Harpercollins
Publishers|July 29, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-223462-9
The past just
arrived on Ruby’s doorstep…
To uncover the
truth about a friend’s disappearance, a fragile young woman must silence the
ghosts of her past in the moving debut tale that intertwines mystery, madness,
betrayal, love, and literature.
“My past was never
more than one thought, one breath, one heartbeat away. And then, on that particular October evening,
it literally arrived at my doorstep.”
Twenty-two-year-old,
Ruby Rousseau is haunted by memories of Tarble, the women’s college she fled
from ten months earlier, and the painful love affair that pushed her to the
brink of tragedy.
When a suitcase
belonging to a former classmate named Beth arrives on her doorstep, Ruby is
plunged into a dark mystery. Beth has
gone missing, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence of her whereabouts.
Inside the bag,
Ruby discovers a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” the
book she believes was a harbinger of her madness. Is someone trying to send her a message – and
what does it mean?
The search for
answers leads to Tarble. As Ruby digs
into Beth’s past, she has no choice but to confront her own – an odyssey that
will force her to re-examine her final days at school, including the married
professor who broke her heart and the ghosts of illustrious writers, dead by
their own hand, who beckoned her to join their tragic circle.
But will finding
the truth finally set Ruby free…or send her over the edge of sanity?
My Review:
One October
evening, twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is sitting outside enjoying the
evening with her mother when a courier service drives up to the door. The woman who pops out of the driver’s side
says she has a delivery for Ruby. It’s a
suitcase that Ruby instantly recognizes as the one she had borrowed from her
friend, Beth at Tarble College when they were both attending there. Ruby immediately realizes that the tag
bearing her name was never removed from the suitcase and she explained that to
the driver. The driver indicated she
could take the suitcase back to the depot or Ruby could just keep it, get in
touch with, Beth herself and make her own arrangements to have the suitcase
returned to her. Before she could really
make up her own mind, Ruby’s mother grabbed the suitcase and said they’d take
care of it.
Upon opening the
suitcase, Ruby finds a copy of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” amongst
other belongings. When Ruby locates a
phone number for Beth who she hasn’t seen she left college many months prior
after an attempted suicide, she discovers that Beth is actually missing! The suitcase is the only tangible evidence of
her whereabouts.
The book startles,
Ruby and she wonders if someone is trying to send her a message – and if so,
what does it mean?
The search for
answers leads, Ruby back to Tarble Women’s College, the last place she wants to
go. As Ruby digs into Beth’s past, she
has no choice but to confront her own – an odyssey that will force her to re-examine
her final days at school, including the ‘married’ professor she had an affair
with and the ghosts of illustrious writers, dead by their own hand, that haunt
Ruby and beckon her to join their tragic circle.
Will finding the
truth finally set Ruby free…or send her over the edge? Does she have the strength and courage to
face the unknown as she travels back through a year she’d rather forget?
The Butterfly Sister was an excellent
debut novel and one I couldn’t put down.
It grabbed me from the first page until the last and I was totally
shocked at the ending. I sure didn’t see
that coming. This would make a good book
club pick as there are many topics to be discussed from within these
pages. I look forward to reading more
from this author in the future.
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