The Sisters: A Novel [Hardcover]

Nancy Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 8, 2011

 

In the tradition of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, a dazzling debut novel about the family bonds that remain even when they seem irretrievably torn apart

Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fischer and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other—with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong. A choice made in desperate haste sets off a chain of misunderstandings that will divide the sisters and reverberate through three generations of women.

What happens when nothing turns out as you planned? From the Depression through World War II and Vietnam, and smaller events both tragic and joyful, Bertie and Mabel forge unexpected identities that are shaped by unspeakable secrets. As the sisters have daughters and granddaughters of their own, they discover that both love and betrayal are even more complicated than they seem.  

Gorgeously written, with extraordinary insight and emotional truth, Nancy Jensen’s powerful debut novel illuminates the far-reaching power of family and family secrets.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fans of THE HELP will be beguiled by Jensen's debut novel. Set in rural Kentucky in the midst of the Depression, and inspired by Jensen's own family history, it centers on an incident that created a lifelong breach between two sisters, one that reverberates throughout three generations. It's a sweet but never saccharine tribute to the pull of family."—Whole Living

"First-time novelist Jensen—tracing the lives of two sisters separated in their youth by a tragic misunderstanding—[has] an observant eye, adept characterization, and a keen grasp of social issues."

—Publishers Weekly

"A single tragic event shapes four generations of American women in this accomplished and poignant debut...Encompassing the lives of women in the 20th century, this sprawling saga is tender and satisfying, with a heartbreaking end."—Kirkus Reviews

“You’ll be drawn into the arms of The Sisters as if these women were your own family. You’ll want to hold them, warn them, betray their secrets. But this is a novel, one that is fresh and vibrant and complex. You cannot live the sisters’ lives, but only share in their joy and heartbreak and ultimate triumph. A remarkably powerful book.”—Sandra Dallas, author of Prayers for Sale

“Nancy Jensen has the natural story-teller’s ability to command attention, but with sophisticated psychological understanding and beautifully crafted writing. The Sisters is a needed novel that will become a very popular classic."—Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife

“A beautiful and touching novel about the events and choices that shape not only our lives but the lives of generations to come. Nancy Jensen takes us on an epic yet intimate journey through eighty years, ultimately revealing the flawed but lovely landscape that makes up a family. Her characters will stay with us long after the book’s final pages.”—Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader

About the Author

NANCY JENSEN, who received an MFA in Writing from Vermont College, has published stories and essays in numerous literary journals, including The Louisville Review, Other Voices, and Northwest Review. She was awarded an Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, and teaches English at Eastern Kentucky University. The Sisters, her first novel, was named one of the Best Fiction Books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312542704
• ISBN-13: 978-0312542702
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy Jensen is a graduate of the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Northwest Review, Other Voices, Under the Sun, ACM: Another Chicago Magazine, and The Louisville Review, as well as in the anthology I to I: Life-Writing by Kentucky Feminists. Since 2007, her work has been honored with an Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, and two nominations for the Pushcart Prize. She shares her home with ten rescued cats and her dog, Gordy, who is her partner on a pet-therapy team visiting hospitals, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and daycare centers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "REFRESHING, EMOTIONAL, STUNNING!" October 26, 2011

By Geraldine Ahearn TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

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

Nancy Jensen takes the reader on an epic journey through eighty years, an emotional roller-coaster ride of happiness, and tragedy. The lives of two sisters are lived far apart, but the bonds of blood are tied in a knot, and never broken. What secrets tear apart Bertie and Mabel? What choices were made that divided their lives, and how did they survive through trauma and heartbreak? I highly recommend this extraordinary, compelling novel to all fiction lovers, who enjoy American literature, blended with history and romance. The story is beautifully written, deeply moving, and the characters come to life as the author illuminates secrets within one family portrait. The vibrant story with unforgettable characters becomes an intimate, captivating journey through The Depression, World War II, and Vietnam. The author describes how life was lived for women through the decades, the power of love, and betrayal. "THE SISTERS" is touching and is filled with joy, sorrow, and triumph!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Secrets can tear a family apart....for generations November 7, 2011

By Melodie VINE™ VOICE

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

This story starts in the 1920s with a story of 2 sisters, Bertie and Mabel. After their father dies, their mother remarries and the secrets begin. What happens to Bertie and Mabel will impact the following 3 generations of women.
This book hooks you from the beginning, but does start to lag half way through. As each chapter is about a different character, and does skip around the different generations, I am glad they included a family tree in the beginning.
I did not see the ending coming, as the mystery around a suicide is solved (not a spoiler statement), but still I wanted it to end differently.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE SISTERS captures both the poetic beauty & pain of frayed familial bonds. November 14, 2011

By Jolina Petersheim

Format:Hardcover

Sacrifice misinterpreted as selfishness becomes the catalyst that drives two beloved sisters, Mabel and Bertie Fischer, apart in Nancy Jensen's compelling, multi-generational debut novel, The Sisters, selected as the #1 Indie Next Pick for December 2012. Initially set in the rural town of Juniper, Kentucky -- where everyone's dirty laundry is aired regardless if it's hanging on the line or not -- Mabel's departure with Bertie's sweetheart on the day of Bertie's eighth grade graduation appears to both her sister and the town as an unforgivable act.

Propelled by the betrayal of the two people she had trusted and loved the most, Bertie's bitterness and refusal to read or answer Mabel's numerous letters explaining her actions causes the sisters' previously inseparable lives to remain adrift. Through the lean years of the Great Depression, the Second World War, Vietnam, to present day, Mabel and Bertie continue to grow and change without the other sister taking part in each other's transformation from girl to woman, wife to mother.

Nancy Jensen, in unflinching prose that captures both the poetic beauty and pain of frayed familial bonds, effortlessly braids together the threads of three generations of Fischer women -- of sisters -- whose lives follow the same pattern of heartbreak and misunderstanding as Mabel and Bertie. From Bertie's daughter Alma who yearns to be Shirley Temple in childhood so she can make everything right again and draw close to her distant mother, to Grace whose name exemplifies her ability -- unlike the other sisters -- to reach beyond her circumstances and find healing through unconditional love and art, The Sisters does not draw upon a cache of clichéd characters, but each sister is made unique in her many struggles and triumphs....

The Sisters is based on the untold story surrounding Nancy Jensen's own grandmother whose sister was not known to the family until an announcement revealed both her existence and her death. Because Jensen was never told her grandmother's motivations for denying having a sister throughout her life, Jensen allowed her imagination to conjure forth her grandmother's reasons and how these reasons for denying her sister's presence might have affected not only her grandmother's life but Jensen's as well.

Though weighted with the hard-bitten truths surrounding dire familial misunderstandings, the ending of The Sisters conveyed through the dynamic character Grace's eyes makes the journey over the span of eighty years and three generations of unforgettable women far worth the trip. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Had a hard time finishing this one... January 8, 2012

By M. M. OCallaghan

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had a hard time finishing this book. For starters, the book contains vinettes of a family tree, a damaged family tree; damaged by generations of secrets and misunderstandings. It starts with the sisters, Mabel and Bertie. A dramatic and tragic misunderstanding leads to a lifetime adrift, separated from each other, literally and figuratively. The subsequent generations also have similar issues with harbored secrets and they and their relationships are emotionally damaged.

The first problem I had is that there is no resolution. Mabel and Bertie, the next generation, and so on; no resolution. No climatic "Ah Ha" moments. That makes it more realistic, I suppose, but not a very satisfying read. The secrets are not kept from the reader, but from the characters. The subsequent generations are told in fleeting, brief glimpses into their lives, so the reader never really gets to know the other characters as well as the first two, Mabel and Bertie. Maybe this is for the best because (my second problem with the book) Mabel and Bertie are the only characters that are even remotely interesting. The author is very good at writing, technically speaking, but the story is dull and the characters are also dull.

This is not a long, drawn out family saga, as much as it is a patchwork of uninteresting stories of partially fleshed out family members, characters, that have their own secrets and issues. It is a rambling mess. The author is obviously trying to impress on us that emotionally damaged people that don't deal with their skeletons, choosing to bury them instead, go on to have equally damaged families. I kept waiting for the stories to be woven together, so the reader could have some resolution, but that never happened.... Instead I found myself tiring of the stories and the characters and just wanting to finish the book and get it over with. Read more ›