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The Faraday Girls: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Monica McInerney (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 28, 2007 Ballantine Reader's Circle
“Crossing the globe, from Australia to Manhattan to Dublin, McInerney’s bewitching multigenerational saga lavishly and lovingly explores the resiliency and fragility of family bonds.”–Booklist

"Vivid characterizations and sharply honed dialogue . . . McInerney brings humor and insight to issues of sibling rivalry, family secrecy, and romantic betrayal."--The Boston Globe, on The Alphabet Sisters

"A book to treasure . . . clever, amusing, and heart-warmingly touching."--Woman's Day (Australia), on Family Baggage

From internationally bestselling author Monica McInerney comes a captivating and charming new novel of family secrets, the loyalty of sisters, and the power of redemption.

As a child, Maggie Faraday grew up in a lively, unconventional household with her young mother, four very different aunts, and eccentric grandfather. With her mother often away, her aunts took turns looking after her–until, just weeks before Maggie’s sixth birthday, a shocking event changed everything.

Twenty years later, Maggie is living alone in New York City when she receives a surprise visit from her grandfather Leo, who brings a revelation and a proposition: He’s preparing a special gift for his daughters and needs Maggie’s help. When the Faradays gather from all parts of the world to celebrate Christmas in July–a longstanding tradition–Maggie uncovers unexpected family history and learns that the women she thought she knew so intimately all have something to hide.

Written in McInerney’s trademark warm, heartfelt prose, The Faraday Girls is a sweeping and affecting family saga.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McInerney's sixth novel depicts the tensions that emerge between five sisters as they struggle to establish their own identities. The book opens in 1979, in Tasmania, Australia, just before the lives of Juliet, Miranda, Eliza, Sadie, Clementine and their father, Leo, are irrevocably altered by 16-year-old Clementine's announcement that she's pregnant. The sisters and widower Leo make a pact to raise the child until it begins elementary school. Despite their unyielding love for baby Maggie, the pact is an enduring challenge for the sisters (who range in age from 16 to 23), who each yearn for independence. Leo, however, sees Maggie's birth as the perfect excuse to keep all his daughters under the same roof. When Maggie is five, one sister's colossal error in judgment ruptures the tenuous familial bonds. The consequences play out as the novel fast-forwards 20 years, with the family fractured and Maggie living in New York City. McInerney (The Alphabet Sisters; Family Baggage; etc.) has written a sprawling tale, though the material is relatively light. Straightforward prose (leavened with spots of humor and upbeat, witty exchanges) keeps the narrative moving along. It should be a crowd-pleaser. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

With the arrival of baby Maggie, the Faraday household increases to six girls and one hapless father, yet there is a seventh Faraday woman whose absence is a keenly felt burden. That Tessa Faraday died too young, leaving her husband to raise their five daughters, was unbearable enough, but when teenage Clementine, the youngest, announces she's pregnant and that she intends to raise the baby with her sisters' help, Tessa's absence becomes overwhelming. Though they have been locked away since her death, Tessa's private diaries prove to be an irresistible lure to Sadie, who betrays the family trust by reading them in hopes that their mother, who had achieved iconic status in death, would reveal the secrets of perfect motherhood. What Sadie discovers, however, ends up shattering the family. Decades later, it falls to Maggie to put the Faraday clan back together again. Crossing the globe, from Australia to Manhattan to Dublin, McInerney's bewitching multigenerational saga lavishly and lovingly explores the resiliency and fragility of family bonds. Haggas, Carol

Product Details

  • Paperback: 562 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 28, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345490231
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345490230
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.2 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Too Long, February 1, 2008
This review is from: The Faraday Girls: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)
This book is much too long. It took all long time to make the point and it was wrapped up with no real answers? I think this book would have been better if it was more about the sister's relationships with each other than going in and out of their lives. I think Leo came off as a weak man and did not deserve the love of his daughters for not reading the diaries and accepting that his love for his dead wife was more in his imagination. If you want a long tale this is it, but it isn't a fun read.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A tale of sisters., September 1, 2007
This review is from: The Faraday Girls: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)
In Part One the story is set in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia). The year is 1979. The Faraday family consists of Leo (the father) and five sisters. Tessa, the girls' mother has been dead several years now. Juliet is the oldest. She is twenty-eight, hardworking, and loves to cook. Miranda is twenty-one, a drama queen, and rude to everyone. Eliza is nineteen, determined, and in college to study physical education and accountancy. Sadie is eighteen, always anxious and feeling like an outcast. However, the one most focused upon is the youngest. Clementine "Clem" is sixteen. She is the most level-headed in the family and three months pregnant. Maggie is born in February, 1980. All four aunts help Clem care for Maggie. Sadie, however, insists on doing the most. Clem builds her career and spends all her free time with Maggie. Problem is that Sadie begins to think of herself as Maggie's surrogate mother. It all comes to a head when Maggie is six-years-old. Sadie does something so horrible that she decides to disappear forever. The only Faraday Sadie wants contact with is Maggie and only via the local priest acting as a go-between. Once a year, Sadie sends Maggie a birthday card. The priest brings the card to Maggie each year and forwards Maggie's reply to Sadie.

In Part Two, Maggie is twenty-six. The setting begins in Greenwich Village, New York (USA). The year is 2000. Until recently, Maggie was an accountant in London. But two events within hours of each other have Maggie en route to New York and seriously considering a career change. Leo's love of inventing has accumulated quite a bit on money. Every July the Faraday clan meets up in "the holiday house" in Ireland. This year, Leo needs Maggie's help. Leo thinks he knows where Sadie is, thanks to a private detective. If Leo is correct, Sadie has a new name, lives in Ireland (very close to the holiday house) and has a family all her own. Maggie is about to learn that every single member of the Faraday family has their own closely guarded secret. At the center of them all is Maggie.

**** Author Monica McInerney is an internationally bestselling author. After reading this story, I totally understand why too. Yet unless you know slang from around the globe, you may find yourself rereading sections to figure out what some words and phrases mean. Most I could figure out by how they were used. A couple still have me wondering. Through it all, though, I came to feel as if I were part of the Faraday family. Drama, guilt, secrets, happiness, heart-breaking sorrow ... it's all in here. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Just okay, December 16, 2007
This review is from: The Faraday Girls: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)
I really wanted to love this book, as I had just returned from Ireland and was in the mood for an Irish novel. But it was just okay for me. It was waaaaay too wordy and repetitive (where was the editor???) and some of the "quirks" of the characters made me want to scream. Miranda needed her mouth washed out with soap, among other things.

But I did finish it, which is why I gave it three stars.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
red monkey
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, July Christmas, Maggie Clementine, Maggie Maggie, Maggie Sadie, Shed Land, Sadie Faraday, Maria Island, Maggie Miranda, Maggie Faraday, Dad Clementine, Father Cavalli, Juliet Miranda, Gabriel Miranda, Sadie They, Clementine Sadie, Sadie Juliet, Miss Maggie, Maggie Juliet, Miranda Juliet, Central Park, Miranda Sadie, Leo Miranda, Tom Hanlon, Dame Street
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