From Booklist
Fifteen years ago, on the day the three Winters sisters packed their most precious belongings in their mother's Oldsmobile and planned to run away from home just as soon as school was out, 5-year-old Ellie disappeared. The family never recovered: their abusive father drank himself to death; their unstable mother retreated deeper into her depression; and once-close sisters Caroline and Madeline grew far apart. Now, armed with a grainy
People magazine photo of a young woman who might be a 20-year-old version of her beloved youngest sister, Caroline heads out for Montana on a quest to bring her back home. What Caroline, burdened by years of guilt, doubt, and regret, discovers along the way has as much to do with finding herself as it does with tracking down Ellie. Ward's smart, sharp second novel is a read-in-one-sitting treat, a delightfully satisfying blend of hip humor and poignant longing, and an unsentimental yet inspiring testimony to the power of hope over reason and love over loss.
Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Description
Joseph and Isabelle Winters seem to have it all: a grand home in Holt, New York, a trio of radiant daughters, and a sense that they are safe in their affluent corner of America. But when five-year-old Ellie disappears, the fault lines within the family are exposed: Joseph, once a successful businessman, succumbs to his demons; Isabelle retreats into memories of her debutante days in Savannah; and Ellie’s bereft sisters grow apart–Madeline reluctantly stays home, while Caroline runs away.
Fifteen years later, Caroline, now a New Orleans cocktail waitress, sees a photograph of a woman in a magazine. Convinced that it is Ellie all grown up, Caroline embarks on a search for her missing sister. Armed with copies of the photo, an amateur detective guide, and a cooler of Dixie beer, Caroline travels through the New Mexico desert, the mountains of Colorado, and the smoky underworld of Montana, determined to salvage her broken family.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
