Sister Sebastian's Library - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784630780 ISBN 13: 9781784630782

Publisher: Salt Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

All is not what it seems in this gripping novel about two sisters’ lives: one who leaves her secular Catholic life to become a nun in deepest Africa, and her sister who goes to search for her when she goes missing. Elodie O’Shea abandons her children to her estranged husband to go on the search for her sister, Bridie. What she uncovers reveals as much about herself, her marriage and her family than her missing sibling. Sister Sebastian’s Library is a deeply moving exploration of relationships, loyalty and trust. With quiet confidence and perfectly pitched prose, Phil Whitaker challenges our understanding of the essentials that make us human.

About this title

About the Author

Phil Whitaker has written four novels. He won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for Whitbread First Novel Award for his novel, Eclipse of the Sun in 1997 after graduating from UEA creative writing MA. He went on to win the Encore Award with his second novel, Triangulation, in 2000 and published two other novels, The Face (2002) and Freak of Nature (2007).

Review

While maintaining the fast-paced missing-person investigation, Whitaker also manages to weave in a separate timeline of Elodie's memories of her sister. There are snapshots of their parents' abusive marriage, an awkward 18th-birthday disco and euphoric experiences watching the electronic dance act Faithless. In these scenes from past lives, the complexities of sisterly strife are presented on a vividly human scale. -- Caroline Crampton * New Statesman * This novel about two sisters addresses the permanent themes of relationships, loyalty and trust. As one sister, Bridie, leaves her secular Catholic life to become a nun in Africa, and her sister Elodie sets out to look for her when she goes missing, the reader learns of Elodie's own journey of self-discovery. As she concludes on her return flight: `Down there, somewhere, were human beings doing things out of hatred; many others down things out of love. And most, like Bridie and her, contending with the mess and muddle that lies between.' * Catholic Herald * Phil Whitaker's fifth novel, Sister Sebastian's Library is about family, regrets and responsibility, and what we do with the chance to start again. -- Anne Goodwin * annethology * This gripping, evocative novel. -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *

Edition details

• Publisher: Salt Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784630780
• ISBN 13: 9781784630782
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288