The Law of Bound Hearts
A Novel
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
With Entering Normal and Leaving Eden, Anne LeClaire brilliantly probed the interior lives of women–friends, mothers, daughters–bringing to vivid life the conflict, surprises, and resilience of their complex relationships. Now in her new novel, The Law of Bound Hearts, LeClaire focuses her gaze on sisters, with the same compassion, insight, and startling breadth of emotion.
Sisters Libby and Sam Lewis were inseparable as little girls, best friends and soul mates. But a terrible event during in their 30s completely shatters their tender connection. Now the sisters live entirely unconnected lives. Happily married, Libby manages a spotless household, clings to schedules, and maintains a vigorous exercise routine; a pastry chef who harbors no romantic delusions, Sam runs a successful decorative cake business out of her newly purchased Victorian home. Neither wishes to be the first to reach out and make amends–until a sobering turn of events forces action.
Libby discovers she has contracted a rare kidney disease that could end her life. A transplant will increase her chances for survival. Sam would be the ideal donor. But Libby is stubborn and unwilling to seek help from others. Much to the dismay of her husband, she is resolved to face her illness alone. Sam avoids the sentimental and refuses to allow Libby back in her life. Once she knows the truth, will Sam bury the past and reach out to her estranged sister?
Anne LeClaire’s The Law of Bound Hearts is an extraordinary story of family that lingers in the mind. It is a novel about courage, betrayal, and forgiveness that penetrates the very core of love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.THE LAW OF BOUND HEARTSAnne LeClaire. Ballantine, (320p) Sisters Sam and Libby, although two years apart, were once as close as twins. Now, at 38 and 40, they haven't spoken in six years, and each has learned that "the future you'd planned for could be altered beyond imagination." At the start of this domestic drama by LeClaire (Entering Normal; Leaving Eden), Sam has become a successful pastry chef and proprietor of her own business. She's also tentatively involved in a new romance after a divorce left her brokenhearted. Libby, once a rebellious teen idolized by her younger sister, has been living a comfortable suburban life with her husband, Richard, a music professor with a trust fund. Then her world turns upside down when she is diagnosed with a rare kidney disease. Desperate for an organ donor, Libby breaks the silence with her sister. Will Sam, who's been called "stubborn as a mule in mud," forgive Libby for the role she played in Sam's divorce and respond to her sister's plea? LeClaire has a smooth touch, and Sam is winningly sweet, but uninspired dialogue and a paint-by-the-numbers plot make this tale of sisterly love and reconciliation slow going.
