First published 2017
Nora Flynn takes charge when her seventeen-year-old sister Theresa becomes pregnant in 1950s Boston. The sisters had left their Irish village for America, where responsible Nora carried doubts about her engagement while spirited Theresa embraced the dance halls and fashion of Dudley Street. Nora devises a plan to handle the crisis, making choices that will separate the sisters for fifty years. Decades later, Nora has built a large Catholic family with four adult children. John works as a political consultant. Bridget hides her pregnancy with her girlfriend. Brian struggles after his baseball dreams collapsed. Patrick remains Nora's beloved but troubled favorite. Meanwhile, Theresa lives as a cloistered nun in a Vermont abbey, cut off from her family and the world. When a sudden death breaks their long silence, both sisters must face the secret decision that shaped their lives and fractured their bond.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama, catholic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: estranged-siblings, second-chance, secrets
Setting: America, Boston, Dudley Street, Ireland, Vermont
Period: 1950s, Decades Later
353 pages · Kindle Edition · Fleet