Three beautiful, historic Queen Anne-style Victorian homes on the Pacific Northwest's Blackberry Island are the setting for Susan Mallery's Three Sisters, a novel that brings together three neighbors, women in their 30s, each with a troubled past.
Pediatrician Andi Gordon is new in town and has recently purchased a house that is "a testament to neglect and indifference." Having been jilted by her fiancé, Andi is eager to take on the house as her pet project, especially since "falling for a house seemed a whole lot safer than falling for a man." But when a handsome contractor shows up to begin the renovation, Andi is forced to rethink the prospect of romance.
Next door to Andi lives Boston King, an artist and native of the island, and her husband, who have been trying to move on with their lives since the death of their only son six months before. But confusing movement with action is taking a significant toll on their marriage.
The third member of the trio is Deanna Phillips, a wife and mother who "makes her own bread, only buys organic and doesn't let her girls watch TV unless it's education." She is so fixated on perfection that she doesn't realize her own life and marriage are falling apart.
The second installment in Mallery's Blackberry Island series (after Barefoot Season), Three Sisters gives equal weight and prominence to each of these plotlines as it sensitively delves into the emotional landscapes of characters grappling to overcome personal crises. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines