All posts tagged: Sally Hepworth

Sally Hepworth on her fabulous new THE GOOD SISTER, featuring twin sisters, mental health elements, a baby, and so much more, plus the books she’s raving about.

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By Leslie Lindsay  A neuro-atypical librarian decides to have a baby for her (fraternal) twin sister, but the story is so gorgeous, perceptive, and multi-faceted. The Most Anticipated Book of 2021: CNN.com • E!Online • Bustle • Goodreads • PopSugar • SheReads • Parade.com • Bookish ~WRITERS INTERVIEWING WRITERS|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ April Spotlight: Siblings I have been a fan of Sally Hepworth’s writing since the beginning, so when I discovered her new book, THE GOOD SISTER (St. Martin’s Press, April 13), I knew I had to get my hands on it–not only does it deal with adult fraternal twin sisters, but it also touches on mental health issues, family dysfunction, and mystery. Rose and Fern Castle are fraternal twins, and as different as night and day. Rose is the ‘responsible one,’ and rounder, called “Rosie Round,” by their mother, a nickname she detests (understandably). Rose marries, is an interior decorator. Fern, tall and willowy, slightly quirky, she hasn’t been formally diagnosed, but is likely on the spectrum, with sensory issues and an almost very literal interpretation of the world. What’s …

Best-selling author Sally Hepworth is back with her best yet, THE MOTHER-IN-LAW. It’s a fragile bond, but could you kill her?

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By Leslie Lindsay  A twisty, compelling novel about the fragile bonds of women–particularly the wife and mother-in-law dynamic–ending, or rather, beginning, in a mysterious death.  I am so intrigued with Sally Hepworth’s ‘darker’ women’s fiction and I think THE MOTHER-IN-LAW (St. Martin’s Press, April 23 2019) might be her best yet. From the moment Lucy met her mother-in-law, Diana, things had been rocky at best. Diana told her friends (and son) after that first meeting that Lucy was “just fine,” and well…Lucy wasn’t all that taken with Diane, either. She was polite and properly friendly, but guarded, cold. Having lost her own mother at a young age, Lucy was expecting a bit more…still, she wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law. That was a few years ago. Now, Lucy is mother to three and a stay-at-home mom. Things with Diana haven’t exactly been unicorns and rainbows, but Lucy has managed just fine. But, now, Diana is found dead in her home. There’s a suicide note near her body. Diana claimed she no longer wanted to live because she …

Wednesdays with Writers: She’s back with a darker and more mysterious tale of families and motherhood with THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR. Join me and Sally Hepworth as we chat about the ‘magical power of hair,’ working from the library, the serious side of mothering in the form postpartum mood disorders, and the predictability of the suburbs

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By Leslie Lindsay Searing secrets…riveting revelations, Sally Hepworth’s fourth book of domestic fiction, THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR (March 6 2018, St. Martin’s Press), is a jaw-dropping gut-punch.  This suburban-set story centers on the folks of Pleasant Court, where everything is picture-perfect, at least from the outside. We start the story with Essie, three years ago, when she did a horrible thing just following the birth of her first baby. She’s gotten help and has pretty much put that incident behind her. But over on Pleasant Court, where Essie moves with her preschool daughter and hottie hubby, and new baby, she can’t help but feel a bit untethered. Her mother, Barbara, the quintessential grandmother moves in just doors away and helps with the little girls. We meet Ange and her boys, her suspicion that the photography client is perhaps a little ‘more’ to her husband than ‘just a client;’ and Fran…her obsessive running. Just what is she running from? And then we meet Isabelle, childless and single and new to the neighborhood. Who is she and why is she there?  Questions and …

Special Pub Day Edition: Sally Hepworth’s THE MOTHER’S PROMISE now in Paperback

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By Leslie Lindsay  A powerful and emotionally riveting portrait of what it means to be a family, A MOTHER’S PROMISE is poignant, breath-taking, and authentic, perhaps Hepworth’s best to date.  [2018 edit from Leslie]: I’m re-running this 2017 interview with Sally because it’s so, so timely with Valentine’s Day right around the corner. Plus, there’s the love between a mother and daughter, and just how touching the message portrayed within these pages. I promise,  you will probably ugly-cry, but that’s a good thing. Really. I flew through this book, not because the topics touched upon are light-hearted; but because the writing is so smooth, so effortless, so authentic and engaging. But be warned: if domestic abuse (including rough sex), miscarriage, cancer, and social anxiety are triggers for you, by all means, select this book with caution. Still, Hepworth does a remarkable job of presenting these situations in a veiled attempt so that we get the gist of what’s happening, but don’t have to relive every raw moment with her characters. Alice is a 40 year old single …

Wednesdays with Writers: What if you were all alone and had cancer? Who might take care of your children when you’re gone? Sally Hepworth explores this, as well as social anxiety, domestic violence in THE MOTHER’S PROMISE. Oh, and Bali, new motherhood, character development…

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By Leslie Lindsay  A powerful and emotionally riveting portrait of what it means to be a family, A MOTHER’S PROMISE is poignant, breath-taking, and authentic, perhaps Hepworth’s best to date.  I flew through this book, not because the topics touched upon are light-hearted; but because the writing is so smooth, so effortless, so authentic and engaging. But be warned: if domestic abuse (including rough sex), miscarriage, cancer, and social anxiety are triggers for you, by all means, select this book with caution. Still, Hepworth does a remarkable job of presenting these situations in a veiled attempt so that we get the gist of what’s happening, but don’t have to relive every raw moment with her characters. Alice is a 40 year old single mother raising her daughter, fifteen year old Zoe on her own; Zoe’s father isn’t exactly in the picture. But then Alice gets sick and is given a grim prognosis, she is befriended by her R.N. and social worker who attempt (sometimes erroneously) to correct the “problem.” THE MOTHER’S PROMISE is searingly honest, emotional, and …

Write On, Wednesday: Sally Hepworth on her astonishing new novel, THE THINGS WE KEEP, love, memory, and truth in fiction

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By Leslie Lindsay THE THINGS WE KEEP is a tenderly written second book from Australian Sally Hepworth. Curl up with a chai tea, a cinnamon bun (and some Kleenex), because this is the kind of story it is: sweet and spicy, gooey and warm, and afterward, you’ll feel like maybe you bit off more than you can chew. It’s a story that won’t easily go away; it lingers.  At the heart of the story is Anna, a 38-year old with early on-set dementia/Alzheimer’s. She hasn’t got long to live. She’s in a comfortable and loving environment called Rosalind House where she’s surrounded by others who are easily twice-three times her age. But there’s someone else there, Young Guy who is also in his thirties and also suffering from memory loss, they forge a friendship that transcends all expectations. Richly layered and detailed with real-life experiences of dementia, Hepworth has done her homework. I truly felt like a fly-on-the-wall as I read THE THINGS WE KEEP. It’s more than a book about dementia, it’s about human …