The Sand Castle - Softcover

Brown, Rita Mae

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802144233 ISBN 13: 9780802144232

Publisher: Grove Press, 2009

Synopsis

In The Sand Castle, beloved American novelist Rita Mae Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle) revisits some of her most spirited and unforgettable characters—sisters Juts and Wheezie Hunsenmeir, and Juts’s precocious young daughter, Nickel—as they come together to cope with a life-defining loss.
It’s August, 1952, and seven-year-old Nickel sets off for a day at the seashore with her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy. Everyone’s excited when they reach Chesapeake Bay—everyone except for Leroy, who is recently motherless and frightened of the world around him. Nickel delights in tormenting her cousin, but, as the group lounges on the beach and begins work on a magnificent sand castle, the sisters try to coax him out of his shell. As the sun swings higher in the sky, Nickel’s taunting of Leroy escalates and the weight of family history between her mother and aunt rises to the surface—until Leroy is bitten by a crab and all of their arguments fall away. It isn’t until years later that Nickel can see that single day at the beach for what it truly was—a life-changing lesson on family and all the pleasure and heartbreak that comes with it.

About this title

About the Author

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Rubyfruit Jungle, The Hounds and the Fury, Six of One, Hounded to Death, In Her Day, Six of One, and Alma Mater. She also writes the popular Sister Jane mysteries and the Sneaky Pie Brown mystery series. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, she lives in Afton, Virginia, where she is master of foxhounds of Oak Ridge Hunt Club. Marguerite Gavin has recorded over three hundred audiobooks in nearly every genre. A nominee for the prestigious Audie Award, she was won both AudioFile Earphones and Publishers Weekly Listen-Up awards. AudioFile magazine says "Marguerite Gavin is an accomplished storyteller . . . with a sonorous voice, rich and full of emotion, she easily delivers wry humor and moves smoothly from accent to accent, recalling multiple characters perfectly." Marguerite divides her time as an actress between the sound studio and classical theater. She lives with her family in the Washington, D.C., area.

From AudioFile

On a summer day in 1952, 7-year-old Nickel, her mother, her aunt, and her cousin, 8-year old Leroy, have come to the seashore. Her aunt's daughter (Leroy's mother) has recently died, and while the two women try to coax Leroy out of his doldrums, Nickel finds pleasure in taunting and torturing him, with a particularly nasty reference to his penis. Havoc in this family prevails until Leroy is bitten on his privates by a crab--and the four find themselves bonding. Narrator Marguerite Gavin infuses the women with strength and fortitude, but the children seem forced into their roles. The plot proceeds at a relaxed tempo at first, then slogs its way to the ending. Not Rita Mae Brown's best effort. M.T.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0802144233
• ISBN 13: 9780802144232
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 103