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lucycatten's review against another edition
4.0
Trigger warning: Child sexual abuse
I read a lot, and I’ll be honest - I was looking forward to this as a fairly nice, easy, quick read. But it isn’t any of these. It is SO much more! It reminded me of both John Boyne’s The Hearts Invisible Furies and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit yet with an entirely unique voice. I became completely involved in the lives of these characters – so much so that I miss them now I’ve finished it.
‘Sometimes it’s necessary to carry secrets inside us so that those we love don’t suffer our pain.’
The book is split into four parts, all of which show events from a different character’s perspective and from a different time. This is a book that spans a generation and delves deep into the lives of those involved – it is about, family, lies, shame, power, corruption and love in all its forms. I couldn’t read it too fast – there is too much to soak up. It is NOT an easy read, but oh boy, is it gripping.
At the very start of the story, we learn of the suicide of Sara Wallace, and the rest of the book seeks to explain what exactly led to that event. It is far from simple…
Anaskeagh, Ireland. Meet the Tyrell family through the eyes of 8 year old Beth – the eldest daughter. Barry, the father, is a musician who is desperately trying to support his family by following his passion, much to the disappointment of his wife. Beth is a daddy’s girl and his number one fan. Marjory – genius seamstress – is a cold, harsh wife and mother – at least to Beth. She is much more maternal and nurturing to her younger sister, Sara. Right from the start, we learn that something is not quite right: ‘The monster lived upstairs in the wardrobe…’ Is this the usual flight of fancy of a young girl, or something much more sinister?
The Grant Family. Albert is married to May and they have two sons – Kieran and Conor. Albert is Marjory’s brother and is the most important man in the town. He is well respected – owning both a factory and a furniture shop and later, having a successful career in politics. He helps the Tyrell family out financially, constantly trying to convince Barry to go and work for him so that he can support his family better. Albert’s constant refrain is that, ‘family is everything’ which leads him to make some incredibly hurtful decisions and unfortunately, his power over everyone allows him to see them through.
The O’Donovan Family. Frank works full time and then some, on their farm. Catherine, his wife, works on the farm during the day and at the local hospital at night to make ends meet. Their daughter Jess is Beth’s best friend – a friendship that lasts a lifetime despite their entirely different paths in life. Beth finds peace and happiness at the O’Donovan Farm that she never finds at home. Ultimately, a decision that Beth makes involves the O’Donovan family and links the families together forever.
Oldport, Ireland. The McKeever Family – Barry finds a second chance at happiness after he leaves Marjory and his children and falls in love with Connie. They move in together with her two children – Stewart and Marina - and Beth joins them when she finally has enough and runs away from Marjory’s sharp tongue. Connie and Stewart work at a clothes factory and after a time, Beth joins them there and starts to gain her independence.
The Wallace Family – Della owns and manages Della Designs, a successful clothes factory that employs Connie, Stewart and later, Beth. Her son Peter is known for having, ‘a tongue that would charm snakes from a basket’. They live in a large country house – Havenstone – and both Peter, and Havenstone, become central to the story.
26 years later… and the character’s situations have changed and moved on. Some of them have come together in ways I really hadn’t seen coming. I don’t want to say much more than that and spoil the read but I will say that Beth is now married with children of her own. Sara has a successful career as a photographer and is also married.
This is a true family epic of a read. I loved it and so wish it wasn’t over.
‘There was a time when silence was more important than honesty’.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I read a lot, and I’ll be honest - I was looking forward to this as a fairly nice, easy, quick read. But it isn’t any of these. It is SO much more! It reminded me of both John Boyne’s The Hearts Invisible Furies and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit yet with an entirely unique voice. I became completely involved in the lives of these characters – so much so that I miss them now I’ve finished it.
‘Sometimes it’s necessary to carry secrets inside us so that those we love don’t suffer our pain.’
The book is split into four parts, all of which show events from a different character’s perspective and from a different time. This is a book that spans a generation and delves deep into the lives of those involved – it is about, family, lies, shame, power, corruption and love in all its forms. I couldn’t read it too fast – there is too much to soak up. It is NOT an easy read, but oh boy, is it gripping.
At the very start of the story, we learn of the suicide of Sara Wallace, and the rest of the book seeks to explain what exactly led to that event. It is far from simple…
Anaskeagh, Ireland. Meet the Tyrell family through the eyes of 8 year old Beth – the eldest daughter. Barry, the father, is a musician who is desperately trying to support his family by following his passion, much to the disappointment of his wife. Beth is a daddy’s girl and his number one fan. Marjory – genius seamstress – is a cold, harsh wife and mother – at least to Beth. She is much more maternal and nurturing to her younger sister, Sara. Right from the start, we learn that something is not quite right: ‘The monster lived upstairs in the wardrobe…’ Is this the usual flight of fancy of a young girl, or something much more sinister?
The Grant Family. Albert is married to May and they have two sons – Kieran and Conor. Albert is Marjory’s brother and is the most important man in the town. He is well respected – owning both a factory and a furniture shop and later, having a successful career in politics. He helps the Tyrell family out financially, constantly trying to convince Barry to go and work for him so that he can support his family better. Albert’s constant refrain is that, ‘family is everything’ which leads him to make some incredibly hurtful decisions and unfortunately, his power over everyone allows him to see them through.
The O’Donovan Family. Frank works full time and then some, on their farm. Catherine, his wife, works on the farm during the day and at the local hospital at night to make ends meet. Their daughter Jess is Beth’s best friend – a friendship that lasts a lifetime despite their entirely different paths in life. Beth finds peace and happiness at the O’Donovan Farm that she never finds at home. Ultimately, a decision that Beth makes involves the O’Donovan family and links the families together forever.
Oldport, Ireland. The McKeever Family – Barry finds a second chance at happiness after he leaves Marjory and his children and falls in love with Connie. They move in together with her two children – Stewart and Marina - and Beth joins them when she finally has enough and runs away from Marjory’s sharp tongue. Connie and Stewart work at a clothes factory and after a time, Beth joins them there and starts to gain her independence.
The Wallace Family – Della owns and manages Della Designs, a successful clothes factory that employs Connie, Stewart and later, Beth. Her son Peter is known for having, ‘a tongue that would charm snakes from a basket’. They live in a large country house – Havenstone – and both Peter, and Havenstone, become central to the story.
26 years later… and the character’s situations have changed and moved on. Some of them have come together in ways I really hadn’t seen coming. I don’t want to say much more than that and spoil the read but I will say that Beth is now married with children of her own. Sara has a successful career as a photographer and is also married.
This is a true family epic of a read. I loved it and so wish it wasn’t over.
‘There was a time when silence was more important than honesty’.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
carleneinspired's review against another edition
3.0
ARC provided via Netgalley.
Beth and Sara are as different as day and night; one with dark hair and one with blonde, one is loved by her mother while the other is not, but both their childhoods are ruined by the same monster. With years of secrets behind them, Beth and Sara's childhood continues to haunt them, and those around them, for their entire lives. Their spouses, their friends, and their children feel the ripple effects of the past in their daily lives, with words unspoken and harsh secrets leaving a dark shadow over them. As the secrets start to reveal themselves, Beth must learn to cope with the secret she and Beth shared, and the revenge she wants to see through.
I was sucked into the story of unhappy Beth and spoiled Sara right away, desperate to see how two sisters were wound together with one secret when their lives seemed so different. As I continued to read I found myself wrapped in the dark cloak that Beth had wrapped around her, her life taking a different path as she ran from the monster both physically and in her head. I wanted so desperately to see these two sisters lives play out differently, but like the childhood abuse, their adult lives carried that same heavy weight. In Parts 2 through 4 we meet more characters, affected by the tragedy of the sister's youth though they don't know of it. I really like seeing how a moment in two young girl's lives played into the future, I think it takes a lot for an author to really carry such a hard thing, such as childhood abuse, through an entire book and Laura Elliot does so well. There are several layers to the story and it was easy to feel as though I was twisted up in it just as much as the characters were.
Unfortunately, while the words were beautiful and the story line was intriguing, Sleep Sister just felt never ending. With several POV's, flashbacks, and four total parts, I lost track of the characters and my feelings for them as I ultimately ended up reading just to finally get to the end. At one point I lost track of the several open plots that twisted together, realizing as I finished the book that some were left incomplete. While the subject was sad one, my complaint lies more with how the book flowed and worked through the characters emotions than with the heavy subject. I tend to love a good family drama, but this one just wasn't for me.
Sleep Sister is heavy, a realistic look at the drama and angst that can tear a family apart and leave rippling effects for years to come. Everything you could want in a dramatic suspenseful read is in this book and I think it just didn't work on a personal level for me.
Beth and Sara are as different as day and night; one with dark hair and one with blonde, one is loved by her mother while the other is not, but both their childhoods are ruined by the same monster. With years of secrets behind them, Beth and Sara's childhood continues to haunt them, and those around them, for their entire lives. Their spouses, their friends, and their children feel the ripple effects of the past in their daily lives, with words unspoken and harsh secrets leaving a dark shadow over them. As the secrets start to reveal themselves, Beth must learn to cope with the secret she and Beth shared, and the revenge she wants to see through.
I was sucked into the story of unhappy Beth and spoiled Sara right away, desperate to see how two sisters were wound together with one secret when their lives seemed so different. As I continued to read I found myself wrapped in the dark cloak that Beth had wrapped around her, her life taking a different path as she ran from the monster both physically and in her head. I wanted so desperately to see these two sisters lives play out differently, but like the childhood abuse, their adult lives carried that same heavy weight. In Parts 2 through 4 we meet more characters, affected by the tragedy of the sister's youth though they don't know of it. I really like seeing how a moment in two young girl's lives played into the future, I think it takes a lot for an author to really carry such a hard thing, such as childhood abuse, through an entire book and Laura Elliot does so well. There are several layers to the story and it was easy to feel as though I was twisted up in it just as much as the characters were.
Unfortunately, while the words were beautiful and the story line was intriguing, Sleep Sister just felt never ending. With several POV's, flashbacks, and four total parts, I lost track of the characters and my feelings for them as I ultimately ended up reading just to finally get to the end. At one point I lost track of the several open plots that twisted together, realizing as I finished the book that some were left incomplete. While the subject was sad one, my complaint lies more with how the book flowed and worked through the characters emotions than with the heavy subject. I tend to love a good family drama, but this one just wasn't for me.
Sleep Sister is heavy, a realistic look at the drama and angst that can tear a family apart and leave rippling effects for years to come. Everything you could want in a dramatic suspenseful read is in this book and I think it just didn't work on a personal level for me.
marceelf's review against another edition
4.0
http://bit.ly/1MZrRqi
What They Say....Two childhoods destroyed.
One story they will never tell.
Until now.
Beth ran away from her family when she was a teenager. She left behind a terrible evil that took her innocence. She also left behind her sister, Sara.
When Beth returns home, she is shocked to discover her terrible secret is not just hers alone…she shares it with Sara. Under the shadow of a remote headland, the sisters make an oath they promise never to break.
Eva’s birth is a mystery that remains unsolved. Years later with her marriage in ruins, and her future uncertain, she realizes that to move forward with her life, she must first understand her past.
But while Eva is drawing closer to the truth about her roots, Beth and Sara’s lives are falling apart, crushed under the weight of the secret they carry. They must confront the past and face the darkness once more. But this time, their story will be heard.
What I Say.....It's no secret that Laura Elliot is one of my favorite authors. I love her stories of dysfunctional families and their relationships with each other and the world around them.
Having sang all of her praises, this was not my favorite Laura Elliot offering. It was a good storyline and the characters were all relatable. I really felt for Beth. I wanted to slap her mother. I wanted to murder her uncle. But I never felt like I really knew or understood Sara. So her childhood, her marriage, her missing daughter and her suicide felt more like something that I was being told about than something that was happening. I keep re-reading that sentence and I feel like it doesn't make sense, but hopefully a reader will get what I'm saying.
It was a good book, and definitely worth reading. I finished it in two day, but I just would have told the story in a different order. And that's a super horrible thing for me to say because I'm not an author and probably could never write a book.
But you should definitely read Laura Elliot. Read everything she's written - she really is one of my favorites.
What They Say....Two childhoods destroyed.
One story they will never tell.
Until now.
Beth ran away from her family when she was a teenager. She left behind a terrible evil that took her innocence. She also left behind her sister, Sara.
When Beth returns home, she is shocked to discover her terrible secret is not just hers alone…she shares it with Sara. Under the shadow of a remote headland, the sisters make an oath they promise never to break.
Eva’s birth is a mystery that remains unsolved. Years later with her marriage in ruins, and her future uncertain, she realizes that to move forward with her life, she must first understand her past.
But while Eva is drawing closer to the truth about her roots, Beth and Sara’s lives are falling apart, crushed under the weight of the secret they carry. They must confront the past and face the darkness once more. But this time, their story will be heard.
What I Say.....It's no secret that Laura Elliot is one of my favorite authors. I love her stories of dysfunctional families and their relationships with each other and the world around them.
Having sang all of her praises, this was not my favorite Laura Elliot offering. It was a good storyline and the characters were all relatable. I really felt for Beth. I wanted to slap her mother. I wanted to murder her uncle. But I never felt like I really knew or understood Sara. So her childhood, her marriage, her missing daughter and her suicide felt more like something that I was being told about than something that was happening. I keep re-reading that sentence and I feel like it doesn't make sense, but hopefully a reader will get what I'm saying.
It was a good book, and definitely worth reading. I finished it in two day, but I just would have told the story in a different order. And that's a super horrible thing for me to say because I'm not an author and probably could never write a book.
But you should definitely read Laura Elliot. Read everything she's written - she really is one of my favorites.
tish9130's review
4.0
A heart wrenching tale of heart ache and pain!
How much misfortune can two sister have, the link to their shared misery their darling uncle Albert Grant, upstanding member of the community, come monster in hiding.
This tale will pull at your heart strings and have you hoping for change. But in the end the horrendous beginning makes way for a beautifully broken ending.
"Years will pass before it blooms but when it flowers its beauty will be unsurpassed"
This was a fabulous tale that had fantastic ideas. I feel at times it was a little slow but this didn't take from the sheer beauty of the story.
Ill definitely look for more works from this author.
How much misfortune can two sister have, the link to their shared misery their darling uncle Albert Grant, upstanding member of the community, come monster in hiding.
This tale will pull at your heart strings and have you hoping for change. But in the end the horrendous beginning makes way for a beautifully broken ending.
"Years will pass before it blooms but when it flowers its beauty will be unsurpassed"
This was a fabulous tale that had fantastic ideas. I feel at times it was a little slow but this didn't take from the sheer beauty of the story.
Ill definitely look for more works from this author.
avidreadergirl1's review against another edition
4.0
Great read but bad timing! The story was great with those two sisters fighting evil in their own way, I wish I could have read it faster.
hellalibrary's review
2.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an unbiased review.
Laura Elliot's Sleep Sister is about two sisters who have both suffered a traumatic experience when they were younger and how it shapes their lives in the future.
Beth, the older sister, runs away from home when she's a teenager, leaving behind her younger sister Sara. Years later, when Beth visits, her and Sara make a pact to never talk about this experience.
Time jump to 26 years later, we are introduced to Eva, who's birth is a mystery, and so she begins digging into her past to find out where she's from.
Now, I'm all for time jumps, I understand their necessity, but the first part (and there were 4), started off really strong and I was really getting into it, but then the time jump occurred. And that's fine, but, I had a hard time recovering that same urgency that I had to continue reading. It's not that Eva's story was boring, per se, but the writing, there was something about it that felt very old-school and the long-winded sentences just bored me after awhile.
The third part of the story, we are introduced to a whole new plot line, and it ties into the beginning, but nearing the end of the book at 70%, I kinda just wondered why the author waited this long into the book to introduce all these new ideas. And, honestly, at this point, I didn't really care that much.
With all the time jumps, it was also very hard to keep track of all of the characters, and some of the characters, I just didn't even see the point of them, it was almost just filler.
The last 20% of the book, the pace picks up again and more truths are revealed and Eva learns more about her past, and I wanted to finish the story, but it almost felt that by that point I was just finishing for the sake of finishing it.
It was an ok book, but it's being advertised as this psychological suspense story, and I didn't really find it all that suspenseful.
Laura Elliot's Sleep Sister is about two sisters who have both suffered a traumatic experience when they were younger and how it shapes their lives in the future.
Beth, the older sister, runs away from home when she's a teenager, leaving behind her younger sister Sara. Years later, when Beth visits, her and Sara make a pact to never talk about this experience.
Time jump to 26 years later, we are introduced to Eva, who's birth is a mystery, and so she begins digging into her past to find out where she's from.
Now, I'm all for time jumps, I understand their necessity, but the first part (and there were 4), started off really strong and I was really getting into it, but then the time jump occurred. And that's fine, but, I had a hard time recovering that same urgency that I had to continue reading. It's not that Eva's story was boring, per se, but the writing, there was something about it that felt very old-school and the long-winded sentences just bored me after awhile.
The third part of the story, we are introduced to a whole new plot line, and it ties into the beginning, but nearing the end of the book at 70%, I kinda just wondered why the author waited this long into the book to introduce all these new ideas. And, honestly, at this point, I didn't really care that much.
With all the time jumps, it was also very hard to keep track of all of the characters, and some of the characters, I just didn't even see the point of them, it was almost just filler.
The last 20% of the book, the pace picks up again and more truths are revealed and Eva learns more about her past, and I wanted to finish the story, but it almost felt that by that point I was just finishing for the sake of finishing it.
It was an ok book, but it's being advertised as this psychological suspense story, and I didn't really find it all that suspenseful.
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