Sisters

by Prue Leith

Overview

Carrie is beautiful and untamed, a single girl with her own business and the pick of the men. Her older sister Poppy is an earth mother, with a successful career in the theatre and happy home life. Since they were children, Poppy has always looked out for her sister—she knows Carrie has a darker, destructive side. But she never dreams Carrie would hurt her. But Carrie can't help herself. She provides danger, excitement, great sex—all the things that had faded in Eduardo and Poppy's marriage. And in destroying her sister's peace of mind, she risks losing all those who love her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623653323
Publisher:	Quercus
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	363 KB

About the Author

Prue Leith OBE is a well-respected name due to her success in the restaurant and cookery trades. She lives in London with her husband and has two children. This is her second novel.

Editorial Reviews

Celebrity chef Leith struck gold in her native Britain with Leaving Patrick, a light tale of love lost and regained, plumped up with plenty of elaborate culinary arrangements. In her sophomore effort, an equally conventional conceit is augmented by its larger-than-life protagonists. When we first meet sisters Carrie and Poppie, Carrie is playing with a gun, and the wiser Poppy not only assesses the danger of the situation, she also knows the most effective tactic to get the gun away. This scene is a sort of template for their entire relationship: Carrie is a beautiful, screwed-up alcoholic who sleeps around and envies Poppy her successful career and family; Poppy, a successful actress, is overweight, has a husband and three children, and envies Carrie her beauty and devil-may-care airs. At the height of her self-destructiveness, Carrie begins an affair with Eduardo, Poppy's husband. In almost no time, everyone seems to know, from Eduardo's outspoken mother to his and Poppy's longtime staff; finally Poppy figures it out, too. The rest of the book is devoted to cleaning up the mess. The subject matter is weighty, the authorial touch is featherlight, and things work out just as expected. Despite the sentimental ending, there is enough strife to make the story believable, and Leith doesn't shy away from complicated, heavily populated plot lines. This is a good-hearted romp that manages everything from the lascivious particulars of Carrie's dissolution to lavish culinary and wildlife details, without skimping on the inevitable happy ending. (Nov.) Forecast: Though Leith's star shines brighter in the U.K., Leaving Patrick received enough attention here to bode well for her latest effort, despite its lackluster title. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Leith is one of England's top chefs with a restaurant and several cookbooks and televisions shows to her credit. Last year, she added novelist to her resume with the publication of Leaving Patrick. In her follow-up, we meet older sister Poppy, a smart, caring actress with a loving husband and children, and Carrie, the beautiful, charming, unreliable younger sibling who lives on the edge. Throughout their childhood, Poppy looked after Carrie, and she continues to do so, bailing her sibling out of financial jams and helping in her career. Her loyalty never falters until Carrie crosses the line and goes after Poppy's husband. Leith's tale of sibling rivalry and rebuilding relationships after an affair is interspersed with wonderful scenes of food preparation, banquets, and magazine shoots. First published in England, Sisters should enjoy the same success as Leaving Patrick. For popular fiction collections and wherever her previous book was in demand. Kathy Ingels Helmond, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A second novel (after Leaving Patrick, 2001) from the doyenne of British cooking serves up a potentially zesty if uneven mix of sibling rivalry and true love.

Two sisters, the good Poppy and the sort of bad Carrie, grow up in South Africa on a bushveld farm, Kaia Moya. When their mother falls ill, the family moves to England, and, hiring handsome young Karl as manager, turns the farm into a game preserve with accommodations for wealthy tourists. As the story opens, Poppy is a famous actress, married to an Italian-born architect, Eduardo. and mother of two children—Angelina and toddler Tom—and about to adopt Lorato, an African refugee the same age as Tom. Younger sister Carrie, in her early 30s, has a catering business, writes about food, and arranges photo shoots. Single, with lots of lovers, she drinks too much, takes drugs, and envies Poppy’s seemingly perfect life. In childhood, she was always getting into trouble for wild behavior, and she’s the same now. Poppy loves her children, and soon has Lorato becoming the devoted companion of Tom. She loves acting, too, and her two perfect houses, one in London, one in the country. Everything is perfect, in fact, except for tired and preoccupied Eduardo. When Carrie, in Paris, sees him with another woman, she’s furious but is soon having an affair with him. When the family goes to Kaia Moya for their annual visit, Carrie is determined to wrest Eduardo away from Poppy, but Karl tries to warn her off. Back in London, a deeply hurt Poppy finds out about the affair and tackles Carrie. As the two sisters keep a cool but correct distance, Lorato, in Carrie’s charge, nearly drowns, and Carrie starts drinking so heavily that she loses commissions.She heads back to Kaia Moya and sets her sights on Karl. Poppy is as jealous as Carrie, but not to worry: this is a meal with a sweet ending.

Light fare, though with lots of mouthwatering descriptions of yummy food.

Kirkus Reviews