The Half Sister

From Sandie Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hello Sunshine Book Club pick The Other Woman, comes The Half Sister; a compelling new domestic suspense novel about a family who is forever changed when a stranger arrives at their door. Meet the half sister, and unravel the ties that blind us. THE TRUTH Sisters Kate and Lauren meet for Sunday lunch every week without fail, especially after the loss of their father. THE LIE But a knock at the door is about to change everything. A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister. THE UNTHINKABLE As the fallout starts, it's clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn't as perfect as it appears.

When she was sixteen, Diana left her unhappy family and set out to make a new life. Twenty-five years later, she has arrived. Recently married to Edmund, she lives with him at his family’s historic country home. But when Diana hears that her mother has died, she impulsively asks estranged half-sister Valerie and her nine-year-old son to stay. The night of the funeral, fueled by wine and years of resentment, the sisters argue and a terrible accident occurs. The foundations of a well-ordered life start to crack and the lies begin to surface, one dangerous secret after another. And then there’s the boy, watching, waiting. The Half Sister is a profound and haunting portrayal of those who are imprisoned by their past and by the struggle to find the words which will release them.

A heartbreaking and moving true story of two sisters separated at birth, and their journey towards finding each other, celebrating the true meaning of family. Helen Edwards grew up in a pit village in Tyneside in the post-war years, with her gran, aunties and uncles living nearby. She felt safe with them, but they could not protect her from her neglectful mother and violent father. Behind closed doors, she suffered years of abuse. Sometimes she talked to an imaginary sister, the only one who understood her pain. Jenny was adopted at six weeks and grew up in Newcastle. An only child, she knew she was loved, and with the support of her parents she went on to become a golfing champion, but still she felt that something was missing. . . Neither woman knew of the other's existence until, in her fifties, Jenny went looking for her birth family and found her sister Helen. Together they searched for the truth about Jenny's birth – and uncovered a legacy of secrets that overturned everything Helen thought she knew about her family. Happily, they also discovered that they were not just sisters, they were twins. Inspirational and moving, My Secret Sister by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith, is the story of two women brave enough to confront their past, and strong enough to let love not bitterness define them.

Things are not always as they seem, in a world where social labels and perceptions often define who we are, how we view each other. With a B.A. in sociology, and an M.A. in counseling, Samantha never thought she would find herself caught in between the cross hairs of media mayhem, as she defends herself, and her father, by dispelling social labels, and "fake news", when her sister marries a Duke, and a Royal fairy plummets from ''the tea towels". Samantha holds firmly over all perceptions, "plots" and "ultimatums". The truth is stranger than fiction.

A single lie becomes a defining moment in a family's life in an unforgettable novel of psychological suspense. After being gone for two decades, Maddy's half sister, Emily, is back in town to settle their late father's estate. Emily's not the troubled girl Maddy remembers from their volatile childhood. Apparently, all is well. It can't possibly matter anymore that Maddy married Emily's first love, but the pictures Maddy finds on her husband's phone tell a different story. Suspicions of an affair are hard to ignore. Then again, Maddy hasn't been herself lately. She's increasingly confused. She's losing items that are precious to her. She forgets where she's going. The line between what's real and unreal has become a blur. Even the damning photos have disappeared. Though her state of mind starts to become everyone's cause for concern, Maddy refuses to believe she's losing her grip on reality. But the one thing she can't deny is the secret from the past that rewrote all their lives--a secret that's ready to come out.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE* VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR 2021 WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST “Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal “A story of absolute, universal timelessness …For any era, it's an accomplished, affecting novel. For this moment, it's piercing, subtly wending its way toward questions about who we are and who we want to be….” – Entertainment Weekly From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.

‘I did something terrible Grace. I hope you can forgive me…’ Grace hasn't been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie's last words, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie's. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn't know about her best friend. When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie's father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie's sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan's home. But something isn't right. Things disappear, Dan's acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace's mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger? There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie... or was there? A compelling, gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, I Let You Go and The Girl With No Past. What people are saying about The Sister: ‘I was gripped to The Sister from the first page until the very end. I thought I had it all worked out until I was proven sooo wrong.’ Robert Bryndza ‘I could not put this book down. I neglected all the house work and put off cooking dinner until I was finished… I loved every page.’ Renee Reads ‘My eyes were racing down the pages… had me guessing right up to the very end and I had tears in my eyes as I relived Charlie's last moments… exceptional… It's an addictive page-turner that begs time and again for just one more chapter until the whole book has been devoured and thoroughly enjoyed.’ The Book Magnet ‘Wow! What an amazing debut novel! Full of intense twists! Fantastic book to start off summer reading! Highly recommend.’ Loud and Proud Book Junkie, 5 stars ‘I loved this book, it grabbed me right from the beginning.' Beady Jans Books 'I genuinely struggled to put this book down… I can't recommend this book enough, it's made it to my favourites... I can't wait for more books to come from Louise Jensen… A well-deserved five stars from me.' Emporio Epidemic 'I couldn't put my Kindle down until I had answers!!… I wasn't sure which characters to trust and which to not trust… a 5 star book that would make a fantastic summer read!' Steph and Chris’ Book Review 'As the skillfully woven web of lies and deceit starts to untangle the author throws in a massive twist that I certainly didn't see coming… a definite must read for all psychological thriller fans and it's one of those books that deserves to be talked about.' The Haphazardous Hippo 'One of those books that you can't stop thinking about even when you're not reading it!!... the tension never seems to drop for one second!… an absolute treat, albeit a scary one, to read!! Highly recommended!' Books and Me! 'Just as I thought the story was wrapping up BANG! I was hit again with another twist. Brilliant! It is chilling and sinister and yet heart-breaking and tragic, and I felt really emotional on finishing it… I can’t wait to read more by Louise.' Bloomin Brilliant Books 'OMG I love this... one corker of a psychological thriller which ticked all the boxes for me giving it an easy 5 stars.' Chelle’s Book Reviews 'Hooked from the first page till the end... A gripping tale for fans of I Let You Go and The Girl on the Train. A must read.' Berlitz Chile 'I was left gaping… You cannot help but speed read through this novel. You have to know what happens.' Aloha Reviews 'I was hooked on the story from the word go.' Hollie in Wanderlust