The Faraday Girls

by Monica McInerney

Book Overview

"Crossing the globe, from Australia to Manhattan to Dublin, McInerney's bewitching multigenerational saga lavishly and lovingly explores the resiliency and fragility of family bonds." Booklist "Vivid... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345490231
• ISBN13: 9780345490230
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Loved It!!!!!!

I bought this book on a whim and found that in 2 days, comfortably planted in my comfy chair, I was craving more stories to come of the Faraday girls. I found the dialog's and scenery descriptions great. I was transported to other places and loved the journey. A must read for a holiday break.

Loved this book!

Very good book-easy to read and follow--about family relationships and all that goes on---leaves you with good thoughts....

Delightful read

Every now and then you need a book that doesn't creep you out, isn't full of romantic encounters, doesn't make you try to figure out "who done it" -- you need a book that's just a good story and a compelling read. "The Faraday Girls" explores the personalities and relationships of the five Faraday sisters, their father and eventually the daughter of the youngest sister. They seem to have an ideal life ... but are they really happy? Do they really tell each other the truth?

Provides a deep look at how easily seemingly invincible relationships can shatter

In 1979 in Tasmania, Australia, the Faraday Girls (Juliet, Miranda, Eliza, Sadie, and Clementine) live with their widower father Leo. However, the dynamics changes when sixteen years old Clementine informs her dad and her siblings she is pregnant. The Faraday family agrees to help Clementine raise the child until he or she enters elementary school; at that time the sisters can restart their dreams of independence though Leo sees his grandchild as the tie to keep his daughters safely home with him. When baby Maggie turns five, Sadie makes a terrible error in judgment that shatters the bond between her and her sisters; she leaves. Maggie cannot understand why one of her doting aunts left. The other three aunts begin their personal flights as Juliet opens a café; Miranda becomes a flight attendant; and Eliza is a life coach. Two decades later Maggie lives in New York yearning to bring her scientist mom and aunts back together; Leo arrives with a proposition to reconcile everyone with a family trip to Ireland. There Maggie learns the secrets that devastated the family when she was five years old, but to reveal it or not to reveal it is the question as either way harm to loving relatives occurs. This is a warm family drama that focuses on broken promises that leads to destroying loving relationships that turn to acrimonious dysfunction. The five FARADAY GIRLS, their niece and their dad contain unique personalities and FAMILY BAGGAGE so that their issues seem real. Although the splintered family saga seems overly wrenching once Maggie knows the whole truth, Monica McInerney provides a deep look at how easily seemingly invincible relationships can shatter. Harriet Klausner

A tale of sisters.

In Part One the story is set in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia). The year is 1979. The Faraday family consists of Leo (the father) and five sisters. Tessa, the girls' mother has been dead several years now. Juliet is the oldest. She is twenty-eight, hardworking, and loves to cook. Miranda is twenty-one, a drama queen, and rude to everyone. Eliza is nineteen, determined, and in college to study physical education and accountancy. Sadie is eighteen, always anxious and feeling like an outcast. However, the one most focused upon is the youngest. Clementine "Clem" is sixteen. She is the most level-headed in the family and three months pregnant. Maggie is born in February, 1980. All four aunts help Clem care for Maggie. Sadie, however, insists on doing the most. Clem builds her career and spends all her free time with Maggie. Problem is that Sadie begins to think of herself as Maggie's surrogate mother. It all comes to a head when Maggie is six-years-old. Sadie does something so horrible that she decides to disappear forever. The only Faraday Sadie wants contact with is Maggie and only via the local priest acting as a go-between. Once a year, Sadie sends Maggie a birthday card. The priest brings the card to Maggie each year and forwards Maggie's reply to Sadie. In Part Two, Maggie is twenty-six. The setting begins in Greenwich Village, New York (USA). The year is 2000. Until recently, Maggie was an accountant in London. But two events within hours of each other have Maggie en route to New York and seriously considering a career change. Leo's love of inventing has accumulated quite a bit on money. Every July the Faraday clan meets up in "the holiday house" in Ireland. This year, Leo needs Maggie's help. Leo thinks he knows where Sadie is, thanks to a private detective. If Leo is correct, Sadie has a new name, lives in Ireland (very close to the holiday house) and has a family all her own. Maggie is about to learn that every single member of the Faraday family has their own closely guarded secret. At the center of them all is Maggie. **** Author Monica McInerney is an internationally bestselling author. After reading this story, I totally understand why too. Yet unless you know slang from around the globe, you may find yourself rereading sections to figure out what some words and phrases mean. Most I could figure out by how they were used. A couple still have me wondering. Through it all, though, I came to feel as if I were part of the Faraday family. Drama, guilt, secrets, happiness, heart-breaking sorrow ... it's all in here. **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.