The Orphan Sister
Authors: Gwendolen Gross
THERE’S OLIVIA AND ODETTE. AND THEN THERE’S CLEMENTINE.
Sometimes, we were a team of three, but sometimes, there was them and there was me. They shared a placenta and amniotic fluid, they saw together with four eyes when they emerged, and used eight limbs like a spider. They shared language and secrets without speaking, and when they finally spoke, it was in words only they understood. I was part of it, but not equal. I had never felt I could stand beside one sister, Odette or Olivia, without the other shadowing us both. Until now.
Maybe that’s why I went to them each alone, maybe that’s why I had been digging into the crack of the arch, digging, cleaning like a restoration, only instead of repairing, I pried at the keystone.
A poignant, compulsively readable story capturing the magic, the mystery, and the dilemmas of sisterhood by critically acclaimed author Gwendolen Gross
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
THE
ORPHAN SISTER
“A breathtakingly original novel. A haunting exploration of love, loyalty, sisters, hope, and the ties that bind us together—and make the ground tremble beneath us when they break. I loved, loved, loved this novel.”
—Caroline Leavitt,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Pictures of You
This title is also available as an eBook
“With exquisite language and an empathetic ear, Gwendolen Gross paints a gorgeous portrait of life, love, loss and sisterhood, and forces you to ask yourself: how far will you go for your family and what secrets can shatter even that bond?
The Orphan Sister
will linger long after you’ve turned the final page.”
—Allison Winn Scotch,
New York Times
bestselling
author of
The One That I Want
“This charming portrait of an impossibly gorgeous and gifted family is something rare: a delightful confection, filled with humor and warmth, that also probes the complex nature of identity, the vagaries of romantic and filial love, and the materialism inherent in contemporary American culture.”
—Joanna Smith Rakoff, author of
A Fortunate Age
“The Orphan Sister
is engaging and sentence-perfect, wonderful in so many ways, but I love it best for its vibrant, emotionally complex main character Clementine. I felt so entirely with her, as she loves those around her with both devotion and complexity and as she struggles to achieve a delicate balance between belonging to others and being herself.”
—Marisa de los Santos,
New York Times
bestselling
author of
Love Walked In
Praise for Gwendolen Gross’s previous novels
THE OTHER MOTHER
A
Redbook
Editor’s Choice
A featured alternate of the Doubleday Book Club,
The Literary Guild, and The Book-of-the-Month Club
“Documents the front lines of the Mommy Wars, but its real strength lies in exposing the complex inner battlefields motherhood can open up.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“An electrifyingly complex and explosively gripping portrait of contemporary, have-it-all motherhood.”
—
Booklist
“The battle of
The Other Mother
is a dark look into everything that tears us apart and brings us closest together.”
—
Dame
magazine
“A must-read. . . .”
—
The Roanoke Times
“The depth of Gross’s portraits . . . renders a thoughtful account of how, for modern mothers, there is no easy choice.”
—
Boston Now
GETTING OUT
“A winning novel from the author of
Field Guide.”
—
Booklist
“Funny, touching, and exhilarating.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Even committed couch potatoes should enjoy the graceful blending of outdoor adventuring and wry immersion in family dynamics that distinguishes this engaging second novel by Gross.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
“Witty, smart, and inspiring.”
—Jenny McPhee, author of
The Center of Things
“Gross captures the erotic freshness of woods and avid outdoorsmen with perfect clarity.”
—
Christian Science Monitor
FIELD GUIDE
“The certitudes of scientific research yield to the unsolvable mysteries of emotional connection in this accomplished debut. Gross’s deceptively spare style glistens with pungent language and precise aperçus.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Stunning. A remarkable debut.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred)
“This beautifully written debut novel offers appealing characters and provides a unique view into the sensuous scientific world of field study with all of its attendant hardships and marvels.”
—
Library Journal
“Credible and inspiring.”
—
Booklist
Also by
GWENDOLEN GROSS
_______
T
HE
O
THER
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OTHER
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ETTING
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UT
F
IELD
G
UIDE
Gallery Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Gwendolen Gross
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition July 2011
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Designed by Julie Schroeder
Manufactured in the United States of America
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IBRARY OF
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ONGRESS
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ATALOGING-IN
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Gross, Gwendolen
The orphan sister : a novel / Gwendolen Gross.—1st Gallery Books
trade paperback ed.
p. cm.
1. Sisters—Fiction. 2. Triplets—Fiction. 3. Individual differences—Fiction. 4. Physicians—Family relationships—Fiction. 5. New Jersey—Fiction. 6. Psychological fiction. 7. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
PS3557.R568O77 2011
813'.54—dc22 2011004839
ISBN 978-1-4516-2368-0
ISBN 978-1-4516-2369-7 (ebook)
For
CLAUDIA ROSE,
REBECCA S. COLAO,
AND SAMANTHA R. GROSS,
my sisters,
and for
CYNTHIA H. STARR,
sister in words.
W
hen my sister Odette called to tell me Dad hadn’t shown up for rounds, my first guilty thought was that he’d had a heart attack on the Garden State Parkway, that his Benz had swerved, swiveled, and scraped against the railing near exit 142 until it flipped into the opposite lane like a beetle on its back, ready for the picking of crows. He’d fumbled for the aspirin he always kept in the cup holder, in a wood and silver pillbox he couldn’t unclasp when it mattered at last. Blood would mat the silvery-red mix of his still-thick hair, his eyes would be open, he’d be dead, and I’d never have a chance to prove him wrong.
Of course, my second thought was to feel horrible for my first.
“No, he didn’t say anything to me,” I said. I almost suggested she call Olivia, but I knew she didn’t need to, because Odette and Olivia, my twin sisters, know each other’s opinions, their desires and mistakes, without speaking in words. Though sometimes I am party to this peculiar frequency, sometimes I stand feeling like the last chosen for a team because they are identical twins, and I am their triplet, number three. I don’t match physically (they are four inches taller than I and my eyes are hazel green to their clear, cold blue) or hear as clearly in the ether of their silent communication.
“I think I’ll try Mom again,” said Odette. She was using her distinctive stage whisper that meant she wanted everyone standing in that hospital room at Robert Wood Johnson to know she was conducting important business on her cell phone. She was allowed to have a cell phone. She was a
doctor.
“I can,” I sighed, thinking I didn’t want to.
“Just wait,” asserted Odette, but we both already knew I’d procrastinate awhile and then go seek out Mom.
“Dinner he would miss—rounds, no. I’ll start and give him another hour,” Odette finished.
If I were talking to anyone else, I’d have been unable to relinquish my frustration. Even Olivia didn’t root me to myself like magnet to steel.
