The Sisters Mortland

November 14, 2005
With her latest gothic page-turner, Beauman (Rebecca's Tale
) weaves a spellbinding tale of three charismatic English sisters and their irresistible pull on the men in their orbit. At the novel's start, it's summer of 1967 in Suffolk, England, where the Mortlands—gorgeous Julia; intellectual Finn (both in their early 20s); odd, imaginative 13-year-old Maisie; and their mother, Stella—live in a medieval abbey. Maisie, who narrates early on, is haunted by the death of their father—and by the abbey's long-gone nuns. Stella commissions Lucas Feld, a starving young artist, to paint the sisters. Julia and Finn, along with Lucas, Daniel Nunn (the sisters' childhood friend) and Daniel's friend Nick Marlow, spend the summer entangled in affairs of the heart while Maisie observes. With his paint brush, Lucas uncannily captures the passion, heartbreak and mystery of the bittersweet summer. But a horrific tragedy, the details of which Beauman suspensefully reveals over the rest of the novel, destroys the summer idyll. Fast-forward to 1991: Lucas is now a famous artist whose breakthrough painting The Sisters Mortland
will soon show at a retrospective, and Daniel, who narrates this section, is suffering a mid-life crisis and still obsessed with the events of that fateful summer. With a conclusion narrated by Julia, this well-paced, haunting novel will captivate Beauman's fans.

December 1, 2005
In this latest from journalist and critic Beauman ("Destiny"), the summer of 1967 has unimaginable and horrific consequences for the Mortland family. We are introduced to the Mortlands by the youngest sister, 13-year-old Maisie, who is having her portrait painted by an artist named Lucas in preparation for his work on all three sisters. Middle sister Finn seems to be having an affair with Lucas, or perhaps she's really involved with her friend Daniel. Certainly, Daniel, with his passionate, gypsylike nature, would like that to be the case. Sophisticated eldest sister Julia has one foot out the door of their Suffolk country estate as she plans her career in London. Twenty years later, everything has changed drastically -all because of that mysterious summer. Beauman structures her novel as a succession of viewpoints that shift in time, gradually revealing the troubling series of events at its heart. Her memorable, highly individual characters are drawn with a clear, dispassionate gaze. Like Lucas's painting of the three sisters, this novel's rich layers blend into a powerful whole. Recommended for medium to large public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ "9/15/05.]" -Laurel M. Bliss, Princeton Univ. Lib., NJ"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2005
Wyken Abby, an old convent, is the home to the sisters Mortland--Julia, the fierce eldest sister; Finn, the sweet and stubborn middle sister; and Maisie, the youngest, at 13, and the opening narrator. It is the summer of 1967, and the Mortland family is enjoying the company of Dan, Finn's boyfriend, and Lucas, a visiting artist who comes to paint the sisters. Maisie weaves her strange tale of her family and their secrets until a tragic accident occurs. Jump ahead a little more than 20 years, and Dan takes up the narrative, filling in most of the blanks left by Maisie, including the repercussions the accident had on the family. Beauman uses her immense skill to tell a story wrought with sorrow and little betrayals. She intentionally drops clues and hints, slowly unraveling the mystery of the accident, ever expanding the perimeters of the damage. She carefully withholds details until she is ready to reveal them--and not a moment sooner--in an absorbing story of how people react in the face of tragedy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)