"Ever since the Bommarito sisters were little girls, their mother, River, has written them a letter on pink paper when she has something especially important to impart. And this time, the message is urgent and impossible to ignore--River requires open-heart surgery, and Isabelle and her sisters are needed at home to run the family bakery and take care of their brother and ailing grandmother. Isabelle has worked hard to leave Trillium River, Oregon, behind as she travels the globe taking award-winning photographs. It's not that Isabelle hates her family. On the contrary, she and her sisters Cecilia, an outspoken kindergarten teacher, and Janie, a bestselling author, share a deep, loving bond. And all of them adore their brother, Henry, whose disabilities haven't stopped him from helping out at the bakery and bringing good cheer to everyone in town. But going home again has a way of forcing open the secrets and hurts that the Bommaritos would rather keep tightly closed--Isabelle's fleeting and too-frequent relationships, Janie's obsessive compulsive disorder, and Cecilia's self-destructive streak and grief over her husband's death. Working together to look after Henry and save their flagging bakery, Isabelle and her sisters begin to find answers to questions they never knew existed, unexpected ways to salve the wounds of their childhoods, and the courage to grasp surprising new chances at happiness. Poignant, funny, and as irresistible as one of the Bommarito sisters' delicious giant cupcakes, Henry's Sisters is a novel about family and forgiveness, about mothers and daughters, and about gaining the wisdom to look ahead while still holding tight to everything that matters most" -- from publisher's web site.
This is the fourth Cathy Lamb book I have read and is probably my favourite so far. Cathy Lamb is my escape author - not somebody I'd expect to like, but I have to confess that I do. I'm not really a one genre reader and will try anything once, which is how I got onto reading her in the first place, receiving one of her books free from Kobo.
I wasn't sure how this one was going to be at first, as it started off in the same vein as one I had read earlier, but then it started taking some unexpected turns that made it compulsive reading for me. Again there are some really strong characters, combined with both heartbreaking and uplifting moments. Cathy Lamb never shies away from tough situations and topics, which make her stories all the more worthwhile to read. There are also some great moments of humour, that often break in unexpectedly.
I don't want to really give much away, but the story centres around three sisters, each with their own dysfunction to deal with, and their brother, Henry, who has some type of mental challenge. Henry, however, is the glue that keeps the family together. In the end, after some really heartbreaking moments, the story comes around and shows that there is great value in healing and forgiveness.
