The Sisters Chase by Sarah Healy
| The Sisters Chase by Sarah Healy | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: Two sisters, Mary and Bunny, take a road trip across America to find a place where they belong, but a dark event from Mary's past threatens to overshadow everything. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 285 | Date: June 2017 |
| Publisher: Houghton Mifflin | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780544960077 | |
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Mary and Bunny. That's how it has always been ever since Bunny was born. Two sisters with an unbreakable bond, twisted together so tight that they were two sides of the same coin. Bunny was Mary's whole world; nothing else really mattered; school...friends...boys...well, maybe one boy, but he was something altogether extraordinary. When the unthinkable happened, Mary and Bunny found themselves completely alone in the world, and that's when Mary decided to take an unforgettable road trip, just the two of them, across the United States, in search of a place where they could belong.
The Sisters Chase is a story spanning the years between 1976 and the present day. At the beginning of the story, 14 year old Mary is concerned about the impact the new baby will have on the family, as its always just been her and her mum. However, as soon as baby Hannah is born, Mary is utterly besotted with her, to the exclusion of everything else. She gives her a nickname, Bunny, and the pair share a bed in the run-down motel where they live, with Mary entertaining her little sister with stories of faraway places and princesses. Fate plays a cruel hand and the sisters run away together, forging their bonds even stronger.
Mary is an interesting protagonist and possibly one of the most multi-layered characters I've ever read about. One the one hand, she has this fierce, pure love for her sister and has managed to create a magical fantasy reality for them both, to cocoon them from the harsh realities of the world outside. However, in contrast to her caring side, Mary is also a morally ambiguous person. She thinks nothing of stealing from vulnerable people, blackmail, breaking up families and giving sexual favours. Karma has a way of catching up with a person, and it's a dark event at the very beginning of the book that threatens to destroy Mary and the secure world that she has created for her sister. It's interesting to see how the consequences of her actions play out and reverberate over the course of the book. Somehow, despite some of the horrible things that she does, the author still manages to convince us to care about Mary and want a happy ending for her, a testimony to the strength of good writing.
The book would be perfect for reading clubs, as there are plenty of themes for debate and details to pore over and analyse. I especially liked the way that the author used metaphor and simile to compare Mary with some of the wild animals that they encountered on their travels, with her amber eyes, jet black hair and sinewy body. The book is beautifully written and had me hanging on every word. The chapters are just the right size to convince the reader to read 'just one more' and often had me reading well into the night.
Many thanks to the publishers for this amazing book, which has completely monopolised all of my spare time. I also think it would make a perfect screen adaptation, so perhaps we will see more of the Sisters Chase on TV or in the cinema at some point in the future.
For those fascinated by the idea of a road trip, we recommend Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd a high-quality book full of intense moments and an unforgettable central character. You might also appreciate The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Sisters Chase by Sarah Healy at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Sisters Chase by Sarah Healy at Amazon.com.
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