Friday, September 13, 2013

THE BUTTERFLY SISTER (AMY GAIL HANSEN)

 
 
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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