The Butterfly Sister: A Novel

by Amy Gail Hansen Narrated by Amy Rubinate

Overview

The past just arrived on Ruby's doorstep . . .

To uncover the truth about a friend's disappearance, a fragile young woman must silence the ghosts of her past in this moving debut tale that intertwines mystery, madness, betrayal, love, and literature.

"My past was never more than one thought, one breath, one heartbeat away. And then, on that particular October evening, it literally arrived at my doorstep."

Twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is haunted by memories of Tarble, the women's college she fled from ten months earlier, and the painful love affair that pushed her to the brink of tragedy.

When a suitcase belonging to a former classmate named Beth arrives on her doorstep, Ruby is plunged into a dark mystery. Beth has gone missing, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence of her whereabouts.

Inside the bag, Ruby discovers a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the book she believes was a harbinger of her madness. Is someone trying to send her a message-and what does it mean?

The search for answers leads to Tarble. As Ruby digs into Beth's past, she has no choice but to confront her own-an odyssey that will force her to reexamine her final days at school, including the married professor who broke her heart and the ghosts of illustrious writers, dead by their own hand, who beckoned her to join their tragic circle.

But will finding the truth finally set Ruby free . . . or send her over the edge of sanity?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Hansen’s agreeable debut, college dropout Ruby Rousseau mistakenly receives a suitcase belonging to Beth Richards, a former classmate at Tarble, a private women’s college near Chicago. The suitcase seems only a nuisance until Ruby learns that Beth has vanished on a trip to Pittsburgh. Ruby, an obituary writer for a suburban Chicago daily, hands the suitcase over to an indifferent and inept detective, but inadvertently keeps one of Beth’s books, which has marginalia referring to Mark Suter, a young, charismatic, and unscrupulous professor at Tarble. Is Beth’s disappearance connected to Suter? Ruby—whose disastrous affair with Suter ended with her attempting suicide—is convinced that it is, and travels to Tarble, where she confronts ghosts from her past, including Suter. Some truly bizarre characters people the story and some surprises defy credulity, but this thriller remains rewarding reading. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Weed Literary Agency. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

Hansen’s first novel is heartfelt, suspenseful and very, very satisfying!” — Nancy Woodruff, author of My Wife's Affair

“I LOVED IT. That book is the perfect beach read... girls who like dishy romantic thrillers are going to go nuts for it this summer. I myself couldn’t put it down til I was done, like it was a big fat pina colada.” — Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author

“That rare thing, a dark mystery that also works on your heart, ‘The Butterfly Sister’ is a beguiling, terrifying story and Amy Gail Hansen a true find.” — Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean

“Hansen’s debut cleverly entwines these literary ghosts into a suspenseful and swiftly paced light mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Rewarding reading.” — Publishers Weekly

Jacquelyn Mitchard

That rare thing, a dark mystery that also works on your heart, ‘The Butterfly Sister’ is a beguiling, terrifying story and Amy Gail Hansen a true find.

Meg Cabot

I LOVED IT. That book is the perfect beach read... girls who like dishy romantic thrillers are going to go nuts for it this summer. I myself couldn’t put it down til I was done, like it was a big fat pina colada.

Nancy Woodruff

Hansen’s first novel is heartfelt, suspenseful and very, very satisfying!

Kirkus Reviews

After a disastrous semester, Ruby Rousseau returns home to tend her wounds. A broken heart, a suicide attempt, a failed thesis--all have left her devastated, unable even to read her favorite books. But the delivery of a mysterious suitcase forces her to face her demons. The suitcase belongs to Beth Richards, an acquaintance, not even a friend, from Tarble College, and she's gone missing. Inside the suitcase, Ruby finds not only a postcard invitation to Tarble's Reunion Weekend, but also a copy of A Room of One's Own, a book that sings to her with the siren call of her abandoned thesis. Under the guidance of the handsome, charismatic and married professor Mark Suter, Ruby had spent her final semester immersed in the literature of women whose creativity and intelligence had driven them to desperate, suicidal acts. Now working as a journalist--well, really just writing obituaries--Ruby is perhaps fulfilling the echoes in her college's namesake of muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell. Unable to resist, she opens the book and discovers a comment in the margin that she cannot ignore. Encouraged by her editor, Ruby begins investigating Beth's disappearance, a search that quickly splashes over its margins into her own life. Was her thesis really a failure? What were Suter's true intentions? The answers can only be found by traveling back to Tarble, where another young woman has attempted suicide on the eve of the reunion. Ghostly sightings of Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sylvia Plath throw Ruby's sanity into question as they emphasize a thread stitching each of these women's lives to each other's: All are madwomen in the attic. Despite some implausible coincidences, Hansen's debut cleverly entwines these literary ghosts into a suspenseful and swiftly paced light mystery.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173396099
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/06/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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