Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters [Hardcover]

Natalie Standiford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

From the author of HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT, the story of a fractured family and three sisters' secrets

The Sullivan sisters have a big problem. On Christmas Day their rich and imperious grandmother gathers the family and announces that she will soon die . . .and has cut the entire family out of her will. Since she is the source of almost all their income, this means they will soon be penniless.

Someone in the family has offended her deeply. If that person comes forward with a confession of her (or his) crime, submitted in writing to her lawyer by New Year's Day, she will reinstate the family in her will. Or at least consider it.

And so the confessions begin....

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up–The Sullivan sisters have some explaining to do. Their grandmother, known as Almighty, has taken offense at someone's poor judgment. So much so that she has given the entire Sullivan family an ultimatum: each member must write a confession to her or they will all be left penniless. Penniless? The girls know this cannot come to pass. How would they all adjust to life without the wealth and privilege their family has been steeped in for generations? Everyone assumes that it's one of them who has so offended Almighty, so Norrie, Sassy, and Jane reveal everything from love to disdain to murder in their letters to her. But is it enough to save themselves from the wrath of Almighty? Stories of teens with money to burn and all the trappings are popular, but this novel offers something more. The substance of the characters drives the plot. Readers will eagerly flip pages to hear the sins of the Sullivan sisters and love the tale each one spins. This book has a long shelf life ahead of it, and can be easily offered to any teen as an excellent read.Robbie L. Flowers, Detroit Public Library, MI
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

On Christmas Day, the scion of the Sullivan family, Almighty, announces one of her grandchildren has offended her. Unless she receives a proper confession by New Year’s Day, Norrie, Jane, Sassy, their brothers, and their parents will be ripped from Almighty’s will and left destitute. Oh dear. So begins a cleverly plotted romp divided into three parts—the confession letters of each sister. Bunched together in age—18, 16, and 15—the girls have much in common, including a cheerful disdain for their parents, a healthy fear of Almighty, and the uneasy knowledge that their life of privilege isn’t how the rest of the world lives. The letters themselves are both thoughtful and funny, and if the voices of the three sisters sometimes sound alike, their confessions amply show the reasons Almighty might be angry, as one sister skips out on her cotillion to follow her heart, another blogs about her family’s evil road to power, and the third regrets killing Almighty’s fifth husband. A step above most books about rich girls, their boys, and their toys in both style and substance. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545107105
• ISBN-13: 978-0545107105
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Natalie Standiford was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, but now lives in New York City. She plays bass in the rock bands Tiger Beat (featuring fellow YA writers Libba Bray, Dan Ehrenhaft, and Barney Miller) and Ruffian. Find out more at her web site: www.nataliestandiford.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars So much potential but not quite.... September 20, 2010

By Sheepla VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I really wanted to love this book. It has a great deal of potential and I think the author is very talented. i love the plot device of the grandmother asking for a confession (and by the way, the "winning" confession is priceless and my favorite part of the book). It then goes on to have each of the three sisters relate their stories. This would have been a great method to show how actions taken individually by one sister were somehow inadvertently impacting the other sisters, but no, these were completely unrelated stories. And with the exception of Sassy, the stories simply showed spoiled rich girls who did what they wanted with absolutely no regard or feelings for how it might affect others. Which isn't to say they weren't amusing stories, but the book still feel short, for me, of what it could be.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grabs readers and doesn't let them back into their own world until the confessing is over. November 1, 2010

By Teen Reads

Format:Hardcover

When Norrie, Jane and Sassy Sullivan attend their grandmother's (known to all as "Almighty Lou"; simply "Almighty" to her family) traditional Christmas Day dinner, something not at all traditional happens: Almighty announces she's going to die and that their entire family has been removed from her plentiful will. One of the Sullivans has offended her, and she expects a written confession if the family is to be reinstated. Otherwise, Almighty's wealth will go to her favorite charity, which happens to be an organization providing dog ponchos to people who can't afford to buy raincoats for their pets. The sisters hasten to comply. It seems each one of the three feels certain that she is the offending granddaughter.

The first letter of confession is that of 17-year-old Norrie. Norrie has always been an obedient daughter and granddaughter, but there's no doubt that she has defied her family's expectations in recent times. It all begins when she signs up for a speed reading night course and meets Robinson Pepper. Robbie is her classmate but is in graduate school. Norrie almost falls over when she learns he's 25. And yet, as she says the first night she lays eyes on him, she's doomed. This bedazzlement spells inevitable conflict in her life. Everyone expects her not only to attend the traditional Bachelors Cotillon on the arm of the rather milquetoastish Brooks Overbeck, but also probably to marry him eventually, thereby uniting the two most prestigious families in town. Her problems intensify when Brooks obligingly announces that he plans to accept her written invitation (the invitation, she notices, is addressed in Almighty's handwriting). The stage is set for Norrie's wrongdoing.

Sixteen-year-old Jane's confession comes next. Unlike her older sister, Jane is all about defiance.... What could she possibly have done to rattle Almighty's cage? Well, how about her blog "myevilfamily.com," written expressly to, as she explains, "expose the sins of my family"? Yes, Jane wants to lay the truth bare about her well-established family, including secrets about her father, Daddy-O, and her mother, Ginger. But she begins with cold hard facts about Almighty, including planting a suspicion about the cause of the deaths of her many husbands. She also blogs some unpleasant stories about how Almighty acquired her wealth. As she confesses, readers also discover some interesting layers to Jane herself, such as what actually caused the rift between her and her ex-best friend.

Sassy, the 15-year-old sister, makes the most shocking confession of all. If what she admits to is true, she certainly has done grievous harm to Almighty. Sassy muses on when her luck changed for the good, months before Almighty's startling Christmas dinner announcement. She had survived a tremendous fall without suffering any consequence other than a tiny bruise. Since then, she believes she somehow became "the luckiest girl in the world." In fact, she announces, she's been hit by several cars without being damaged --- because she has become immortal. Sassy is certain that Almighty's announcement was triggered by a certain gesture she asked her brother to perform during the play she produced to entertain the family on Christmas.

This is an absorbing read. As in Natalie Standiford's previous (wonderful) HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT, every character is real and believably quirky. Parents Ginger and Daddy-O live in their own world, blithely oblivious to their kids. Her children call her Ginger because "just hearing the word 'mom' ages a woman twenty years." Somehow, they come off as mostly charming instead of fodder for child protective services. It's delightful to read about sisters who are as close as Norrie, Jane and Sassy. In their relationship, each one takes on a role. Norrie is maternal, Jane rocks the boat, and Sassy provides an odd spiritual presence --- yet they are way more than stereotypes.

By turns hilarious and poignant, CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS grabs readers and doesn't let them back into their own world until the confessing is over.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What People will Confess for Money ? August 23, 2011

By P. L. Phillips

Format:Hardcover

As soon as I saw this book reviewed on a blog, I knew I just had to read it -not just because I enjoy Natalie Standifod as a writer but also because the storyline sounded intriguing. Meet the Sullivan Sisters - Norrie, Jane and Sassy and their brothers St John , Sully and Tarky and of course their parents Daddy-O and Ginger and then there is their grandmother known as Almighty. When Almighty declares that she hasn't gotten long to live she calls them all to a meeting and lets the family know that she has taken them out of her will and that unless they want to be left penniless when she passes, one of them has committed an offense against her and must confess to her in writing by New Years, The fun part is that all of them have and the Almighty is not going to name names. The book is split into 5 parts, the first is the Almighty declaring about her will and stating the requirements, the second part is Norrie's confession and how love caused her to walk out on what would have been the Almighty's celebration for Norrie , the third part is Jane's confession and how her act of rebellion and telling the truth about her family went further than she ever could of imagined it , the fourth part is Sassy's confession in which she believes that her act of being immortal caused Almighty's 5th Husband to die and finally the last part which had me in laughter is the true confession and trust me when you get to it and see what it is , you will be laughing at the confession and what the reason behind her disownment threat was :).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sins of the Sisters... January 4, 2011

By Denise Crawford TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Light, quick read with not much substance. The entire Sullivan family is informed on Christmas Day that they have been cut out of Arden Louisa Norris Sullivan Weems Maguire Hightower Beckendorf's will. Shocked and horrified, the family can't believe what they are hearing. One of them has really done it this time -- and the family knows she is serious. Even though there are 6 children in the family, the book centers on the letters written by the 3 Sullivan sisters who worry that they might have been the one who offended Almighty Lou -- their strong willed grandmother who is the matriarch of a rich and powerful family in Baltimore. She has threatened to disinherit the entire family if the guilty party doesn't appease her with a remorseful confession presented to her before the end of the year.

The three sisters, Norrie, Jane, and Sassy (OK the names got on my nerves) dutifully write their stories for their grandmother detailing the antics and mistakes that might have really been upsetting to Almighty so the book is divided into those three basic parts. I won't detail the stories so there are no spoilers but all I kept thinking was -- which girl is the one who upset her??

The family gathers again on New Year's Day to hear if they are going to get a reprieve. Who was it and what was the crime?

Teens will likely enjoy this funny family tale.