From Publishers Weekly
Wood's debut novel is a fiercely lyrical study of two sisters, inseparable yet emotionally distant in childhood, who against all odds grow close as adults. Faith and Connie Spaulding move from city to city with their parents, Billy and Delle, self-centered and unloving actors who quarrel violently. The thespian duo die due to carelessness and alcohol abuse while the girls are in their teens. After Faith becomes a medical secretary in Maine and marries Joe, a machinist, and Connie becomes a flight attendant, the sisters drift apart. Wood's portrayal of Faith, who feels "caught in the wrong life"--her husband's love hard for her to accept, her two sons mysteries to her--is especially affecting. When Isadora, a half-sister from Brooklyn whom Faith and Connie never knew existed, suddenly barges into their lives, Connie eagerly embraces her. An aspiring blues singer, Isadora turns out to be a shameless publicity-seeker. But her intrusion, a divorce and a tragic accident will reunite Faith and Connie. Wood, whose fiction has appeared in Redbook and other publications, writes with sensitivity and intuitive insight about relationships coming apart and the walls people erect to keep others out.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Connie has trouble with time. She always has to stop and think a minute: How old is she now? . . . Faith always seems to know, though her life is the same as Connie’s: back and forth to theater towns all over. The same dingy food, the same noisy sidewalks, the same cramped suites in the same hotels. . . Sometimes they go to school, sometimes not, though they always have books to read: big packets of books that Armand sends to them in every city. Armand is their parents’ lawyer, the only person they know who likes children. . . .
Faith and Connie endured the same childhood as daughters of egocentric, semi-famous actors who can scarcely take care of themselves. But the two sisters could not be more different. Connie learned to beg for attention, clamor for approval, and fill the silence with words. Faith turned inward, shrinking from the tender emotions that make up an ordinary life. Despite their differences, the sisters came to rely on each other exclusively. But lately, after years of quiet connection, Faith and Connie seem to have lost the ties that once held them close. Faith has a home and two growing sons, but is still unable to fathom unconditional love. Connie, a flight attendant, is always searching, ever-expecting to find her true place in life at the end of each long flight. But a series of shocking, revelatory events will bring the sisters back to each other—and forever alter how they define love, fulfillment, and most importantly, family.
