Sister

Abigail Schiller lives in a seemingly normal childhood in a rural Catholic community in Wisconsin. But that life is shattered when her younger brother, Sam, vanishes at the age of seventeen, fleeing their father's rigid rules of masculinity and the violence their mother denies. Finally, thirty years old and expecting a child of her own, Abby is determined to retrace her lost sibling's dark descent--embarking upon an emotional journey that will test the strength of her spirit, and contradict everything she once believed her family and herself.

A stunning work of race poignance and unsettling power, A. Manette Ansay's Sister marks the literary maturation of a truly exceptional voice in contemporary American fiction. Deftly spinning triumph out of tragedy, the award-winning author of Vinegar Hill Offers us a fresh understanding of family, memory, and faith.

"A soul aches here, and the future seems forlorn. But Sister rises above that with frankness and acuity, and the rhythmic beauty of its prose."(— The New York Times Book Review)

"A deeply satisfying story. . .There is beauty, and clarity and much sadness in Sister . . .Ansay writes with grace and assurance. . .You feel the wonder and the terror of these scarred, ineluctably entwined lives."(— Elle)

"A. Manette Ansay's best work of fiction to date: highly original and entertaining powerful, and told in a racy distinctly American voice"(— Howard Frank Mosher, author of Northern Borders)