The Sisters Mortland

by Sally Beauman

Book Overview

This powerful and haunting story about three sisters and a tragedy that becomes the center of their lives is from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Destiny.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446578193
• ISBN13: 9780446578196
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

I couldn’t put it down.

The Sisters Moreland is hauntingly beautiful. You are pulled into the setting from the first page. The characters have depth. There is mystery with surprising twists and turns. I can’t stop thinking about it.

A(n) (rare, nowadays) Excellent Read

As has been pointed out, this is the UK title for "The Sisters Mortland," a saga of a landed, (and therefore?) commercially clueless, loyal, eccentric and extravagantly emotionally tragic family from different protagonist viewpoints. The dialogue is witty, poignant and savage; the plot twists are unexpected and wrenching, the characters are sympathetic in spite of, or rather because of their flaws. This is true great writing - it is clear that Sally Beauman's Oxford years have disciplined her craft but beware: she can, and does, go for the emotional jugular.

READER ALERT

If you read The Sisters Mortmain, please note, The Landscape of Love is the same book with the UK title. I found out the hard way. It's a great story, however, with touching, enduring characters, family mysteries, and a favorite setting, Suffolk.

Not what I expected...far better

To paraphrase the saying regarding ducks: in many ways "The Sisters Mortland" walks like a gothic mystery-romance and talks like a gothic mystery-romance and the dust-jacket art even looks like a gothic mystery-romance...and yet, despite all that, the book is a great deal more. It features abundant suspense but is ultimately about the characters. I must respectfully disagree with those who found none of them likable. It's true that most of them are deeply flawed--variously selfish, frustrating, at times even despicable. Most, however, ultimately redeem themselves in some way when they reveal their truest colors. And above all, in my opinion, they are vindicated by their love for Maisie. Maisie, the youngest sister, is the novel's lodestar--and an amazing literary achievement. It was a stroke of brilliance to start the story from her first-person viewpoint, because we learn to value just how remarkable she is on our own, before being influenced by the other characters' estimations of her. I'd probably give "The Sisters Mortland" four-and-a-half stars if that were an option; the book's not perfect. But it's so insightful, beautifully written, heartfelt and heart-stopping that I'm content to give it five.

Deeply Emotional

n 1967 Suffolk, an aspiring young artist dipped into his paints and created a marvelous work of art depicting three young sisters. Julia, Finn, and Maisie Mortland were as different from each other as possible for full-blooded siblings, and those differences are what shone in their portrait. The completion of "The Sisters Mortland" also heralded a disaster that would haunt all those involved for decades. In the early 1990s, childhood friend Dan Nunn faces the past as he is drawn back to Suffolk. Forced to explore and reexamine the events of that summer, Dan must reconcile past hurts with his current life in order to step into the future--if he has one. THE SISTERS MORTLAND is told from three key perspectives and bounces somewhat through time. The characters' stories reveal aspects and layers to what, at the surface, seems a simple tale. Deeply moving and emotional, this is novel will linger in the reader's mind as an all-too-human reality. It is a reflection of life's complexities as seen through very different eyes. Sally Beauman brings formidable insight into the human condition to her work, and it shows. Fans will not be disappointed, and newcomers will recognize Beauman's writing for the unforgettable talent it is. Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer 12/20/2006

A riveting and realistic blend of suspense, romance, tragedy, and social commentary

The Mortland girls --- beautiful mean Julia, aloof Finn, and young "different" Maisie --- come with their mother, Stella, to live in their grandfather's home, a huge and ancient ruin of an abbey. Maisie instantly befriends the ghostly nuns who haunt the place and busies herself with the writing of many lists. In the summer of 1967, family friends Dan, Nick and Lucas arrive for a visit. Lucas is painting the girls' portraits. When he works on Maisie, she entertains him with tales of the family's past. However, when Maisie tells of having her fortune told years ago, he scoffs and so she doesn't tell him what she saw in the fortune teller's crystal ball. As the family begins to prepare to travel to Gramps's childhood home for their annual visit, their place is enveloped in a brooding sense of impending doom. Maisie (who wanders at night) spies Finn returning home very early in the morning, naked under her dress. Maisie worries that Dan's heart will be broken if Finn has been with Lucas, as she suspects. Before the family leaves on their trip, Stella and her father work on their plan to ask Gramps's wealthy brother for a loan to repair the crumbling Abbey. Maisie slips away, spying Lucas furtively leaving for Cambridge on Julia's bike. Did he steal it? Maisie then overhears a passionate argument between Dan and Finn, followed by an equally passionate embrace. The house is filled with fear, distrust and despair. Maisie doesn't know what is wrong with her family but decides she must take action to help them. As usual Gramps's brother rebuffs the family's request for a loan. However, Maisie acquires money through surprising means. During this transaction she learns that her family fears she'll turn out like her deceased father. What on earth does that mean? The story picks up again in 1989 and becomes Dan's tale rather than Maisie's. The sense of impending doom turns to suspenseful mystery as Dan reflects back on a tragedy that occurred during the summer of 1967 involving the Mortland family. Lucas is now a celebrated artist planning to show his 1967 portrait, The Sisters Mortland, at a retrospective. Dan is horrified at the thought of stirring up the family tragedy and sorrow. Dan's life is also something of a tragedy. His job as a producer of commercials ends, his father dies, and he lives in a drug-blurred depression (yet he is an entertaining, likable narrator). His life's central mystery is the tragic puzzle of the Mortland event that occurred during that long past summer. Where did it all go wrong? Why did it happen? How did he lose the love of his life? Dan gazes upon Lucas's famous portrait of the sisters and, fueled by the stew of many drugs in his system, finds clues. This book is a riveting and realistic blend of suspense, romance, tragedy, and meditation on Britain's social classes. The reader glimpses bits of the true story, as if wandering the Abbey's labyrinth or peeking into the "Squint," a kind of secret periscope within the buil