cover image The Orphan Sister

The Orphan Sister

Gwendolen Gross. S&S/Gallery, $15 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-4516-2368-0

A trio of sisters navigates familial quirks and tragedy in Gross's emotionally charged fourth novel (after The Other Mother). Though Odette, Olivia, and Clementine have always shared a special bond as triplets, Clementine%E2%80%94the narrator and nonidentical triplet sibling to identical twins, has often felt like the third wheel. It doesn't help matters that, as they approach 30, Odette and Olivia are Harvard grads, sharing a medical practice, happily married, and expecting babies, while Clementine is living in her parents' carriage house. The sisterly bond is further strained when their father disappears and Olivia claims to know the dark secret that compelled him to take off, but she refuses to share anything more than her anger. As Clementine searches for clues, she touches on the secret that will redefine the sisters' identity, confronts her unresolved anger toward her father, and comes to terms with the long-ago death of her first love. Gross brings abundant personality to the sisters' interactions as they move through a fairly humdrum story of family secrets. (July)