For more than ten years, Naomi and Phil Harrison enjoyed a marriage of heady romance, tempered only by the needs of their children. But on a vacation alone, the couple perishes in a flight over the Grand Canyon. After the funeral, their daughters, Ruthie and Julia, are shocked by the provisions in their will. <P><P>Spanning nearly two decades, the sisters journeys take them from their familiar home in Atlanta to sophisticated bohemian San Francisco, a mountain town in Virginia, the campus of Berkeley, and lofts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As they heal from loss, search for love, and begin careers, their sisterhood, once an oasis, becomes complicated by resentment, anger, and jealousy. It seems as though the echoes of their parents deaths will never stop reverberating until another shocking accident changes everything once again.
A Soft Place to Land: A Novel
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Review
"<I>A Soft Place to Land is a beautiful story of the complicated love between two sisters. It's smart, funny, moving and wise. I simply did not want to put it down. If you have a sister, you're going to miss her, and if you don't have one, you'll wish that you did. Book clubs: This is your next pick. I loved this book. Susan Rebecca White is a wonderful writer."
--Kathryn Stockett, author of <I>The Help</I>"Susan Rebecca White is a true original. She whacks through stereotypes with a machete, ultimately rejecting them all, and finding instead deep compassion for the flaws that make us human. This journey of two sisters' loss and longing is sure to win your heart."<P> --Todd Johnson, author of <I>The Sweet By and By</I>
About the Author
Susan Rebecca White is the author of the critically acclaimed novel <I>Bound South. Born and raised in Atlanta, she spent many years in San Francisco before returning to her hometown, where she teaches creative writing at Emory University. She lives with her husband, the writer Alan Deutschman.
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More About the Author
Susan Rebecca White was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She is agraduate of Brown University and holds a master of fine arts in creative writing from Hollins University. Now at work on her second novel, she lives with her husband in Atlanta.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
omfg, I *know* this world Susan Rebecca White has written about! It's like I lived it myself. Julia and Ruthie start off in the crazy/wonderful "new south" of Atlanta, right alongside the "no white shoes after Labor Day" Old South that will always be there, especially in the tony part of town the girls live in. SRW is spot-on in her portrait of these two half-sisters (they have the same mom, but different dads) trying to figure out HOW TO BE within this world of BMWs and fine champagnes and prep school girls who tsk and tug you away if you try to help the poor misfit who spills her tampons in front of everyone in the junior high parking lot.
Just that alone would make a frickin' great story, right? Just wait. The girls' madly-in-love parents die, and the super-close sisters are separated. Good girl Ruthie goes to live with her hip aunt and uncle in San Francisco; wild child Julia, on the other hand, is sent to live with her still-living dad and her stepmother in a small southern town that's as different from Atlanta as San Fransisco is.
It's wrenching to watch the two girls as they navigate their new situations, but completely engrossing. While the story is told from the POV of Ruthie, the "lucky" younger sis who draws the better hand in terms of life-after-the-death-of-her-parents, it's Julia my heart goes out to. Um, can anyone say "Christian Reform School"? Uh-huh. Just try imagining the trials she endures when she's sent there to "be straightened out," and then know that you're ten percent there, because Julia's reality is so much worse (and yet better, in terms of storytelling) than you can possibly predict.
The bottom line is that this is a sister story...and I LOVE me a fabulous sister story. People change, *sisters* change, and it's hard and painful and wonderful and sweet to read their story, cheering them on as they grow into two very different women who nonetheless love each other intensely.
For anyone who has ever struggled with maintaining an important relationship, this book is for you. If you like to laugh and cry and snort-giggle while you read, all the better.
You'll come away a changed person, but in a good way. The best way. Your soul will be lighter, your faith in the world affirmed.
Just that alone would make a frickin' great story, right? Just wait. The girls' madly-in-love parents die, and the super-close sisters are separated. Good girl Ruthie goes to live with her hip aunt and uncle in San Francisco; wild child Julia, on the other hand, is sent to live with her still-living dad and her stepmother in a small southern town that's as different from Atlanta as San Fransisco is.
It's wrenching to watch the two girls as they navigate their new situations, but completely engrossing. While the story is told from the POV of Ruthie, the "lucky" younger sis who draws the better hand in terms of life-after-the-death-of-her-parents, it's Julia my heart goes out to. Um, can anyone say "Christian Reform School"? Uh-huh. Just try imagining the trials she endures when she's sent there to "be straightened out," and then know that you're ten percent there, because Julia's reality is so much worse (and yet better, in terms of storytelling) than you can possibly predict.
The bottom line is that this is a sister story...and I LOVE me a fabulous sister story. People change, *sisters* change, and it's hard and painful and wonderful and sweet to read their story, cheering them on as they grow into two very different women who nonetheless love each other intensely.
For anyone who has ever struggled with maintaining an important relationship, this book is for you. If you like to laugh and cry and snort-giggle while you read, all the better.
You'll come away a changed person, but in a good way. The best way. Your soul will be lighter, your faith in the world affirmed.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By J. White
Format:Paperback
One of my daughters gave me A Soft Place to Land the day it came out and I spent a delightful few hours reading it, even though the untimely death of Phil and Naomi, the natural parents of Ruthie (Phil was Julia's stepfather, whom she loved dearly), brought many tears to my eyes. Let me tell you, the book is not just for sisters. All parents live with the specter of "who'll take care of the children if we die together?" In the case of divorced parents, presumably their surviving ex-spouses, who are the living natural parents of the children, will take over. But what about children, such as Ruthie, born to the deceased couple? Ruthie had no surviving natural parent. The painful, gut-wrenching factor which comes into play in Soft Place is this: what legally happens to the half-siblings and step-siblings almost always separates them from each other. No law says the new parent is required to allow half-siblings and step-siblings "visitation" rights. Separated children may never see their brothers or sisters again.
Ms White shows us how Julia and Ruthie dealt with their heart-rending separation. And what a great job she does. She skillfully reveals and develops the angst and heartache that accompanied the separation. The sisters' sense of loss is palpable. Happily, Ms White reunites them after taking them through many of life's growing pains, without each other to lean on. I'm sure Phil and Naomi would have approved.
Caring step-parents and step-siblings will love this book.
Ms White shows us how Julia and Ruthie dealt with their heart-rending separation. And what a great job she does. She skillfully reveals and develops the angst and heartache that accompanied the separation. The sisters' sense of loss is palpable. Happily, Ms White reunites them after taking them through many of life's growing pains, without each other to lean on. I'm sure Phil and Naomi would have approved.
Caring step-parents and step-siblings will love this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I tremendously enjoyed this book. The story of the two half-sisters from Atlanta who are separated after their parents' death in a plane crash -- Julia to her father and "evil stepmother" in small-town Virginia, and Ruthie to her aunt and uncle in San Francisco -- builds an incredibly vivid picture of the evolving relationship between the girls as their lives are changed by the events around them and they grow into young adulthood.
I will say that I found the back-cover copy (which is also the "product description" above) to be a little on the misleading side, however. This is a book of slow and steady crescendos and rests -- there aren't really any "shocking" moments, nothing that you don't already see coming pages in advance, nothing that turns the book on its ear. And I don't say that as a bad thing -- I think the book is amazing as it is, and the story would be cheapened by trying to make some of the twists sharper than they really are. So it's odd to me that the publisher decided to describe the book this way.
There's also something about the overall tenor of this book that really reminded me of the 1995 movie "Now and Then" [...] -- not that there are any similarities in plot or characters, but I can definitely see them appealing to the same audiences. So if you loved that movie, definitely grab this book.
I will say that I found the back-cover copy (which is also the "product description" above) to be a little on the misleading side, however. This is a book of slow and steady crescendos and rests -- there aren't really any "shocking" moments, nothing that you don't already see coming pages in advance, nothing that turns the book on its ear. And I don't say that as a bad thing -- I think the book is amazing as it is, and the story would be cheapened by trying to make some of the twists sharper than they really are. So it's odd to me that the publisher decided to describe the book this way.
There's also something about the overall tenor of this book that really reminded me of the 1995 movie "Now and Then" [...] -- not that there are any similarities in plot or characters, but I can definitely see them appealing to the same audiences. So if you loved that movie, definitely grab this book.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Southern Reading
I love a good Southern book and this was not a disappointment! Susan Rebecca White writes in an engaging style that reels you in and makes you feel the characters.
Published 23 days ago by Lori Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Soft Place to Land: A Novel by Susan Rebecca White
Our book club hostess suggested this book for our monthly book club. Everyone really enjoyed the book. I would recommend it.
Published 1 month ago by R. Swartzwalder-Billick
5.0 out of 5 stars
good discussion
book club all agreed well worth reading. Real life incidents and blended families made for some really good discussion. Would recommend.
Published 2 months ago by Pam BUford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review of A Soft Place To Land
I enjoyed this book. It was well written. Not crazy about the ending. We read it for our book club, and most of the members felt the same way. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Book club monthly selection
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Soft place to Land
It was really hard to read this book. Not having many chapters. I just took to long to get going too.
Published 8 months ago by meghan428
1.0 out of 5 stars
Whoever titled their review "Ugh" was oh soooo right.
This book showed so much promise in the first 50, but alas fell short for me in a lot of ways.
The characters of Ruthie and Julia are initially so interesting, as they... Read more
The characters of Ruthie and Julia are initially so interesting, as they... Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. Liebler
2.0 out of 5 stars
UGH!
The author is all over the place in this book. She never develops the characters for you to get a chance to fall in love with any of them. The ending is dumb. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Tina
1.0 out of 5 stars
Would Never Recommend This Book
When I choose a fiction book I almost always choose one that has been on the best seller list. This time I veered and it only proved to me that books are best sellers for a... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Judy
2.0 out of 5 stars
contrived escapism
I'll admit I am in a "total escapism fluff" reading phase and am reading books that don't require too much brain power. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Wendy Beattie
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very Contrived
I read this book for my book club. The member who recommended it had not read it before and thought it looked like a good read. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Barbara J. Meiring
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