Title: Sister Acts
Author: Sharon Adelman Reyes
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Publisher: Lake Grove Press
Source: iRead Book Tours
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 6, 2025
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Four sisters. Four clashing personalities. Four different ways of living in the world.
Sister Acts explores the impact of loss on three generations of one family –- in particular, the degree to which, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, women are capable of inhumanity toward other women. At times heartbreaking and at times hilarious, the novel illuminates the resilience that can come from knowing one’s roots and the estrangement that can result from trying to escape them.
Sophie Malinsky’s sudden death leaves her Left-wing Jewish family in disarray. Rather than bringing her young daughters closer, the loss creates a tangle of jealousies and recriminations. Rose, the eldest, recognizing their father’s limitations, at first tries to become a surrogate mother for her three sisters. But they resent her efforts, each one channeling – or repressing – her grief in a different way. In the absence of Sophie’s love and guidance, two sisters lose their way. Naomi moves to Mexico and tries to shed her Jewish identity. Betti ends up in Nashville pursuing a dream, never realized, of stardom as a rockabilly musician. A fourth sister, Marla, strives for dominance from an early age. Her jealousy of Rose leads to a toxic rivalry that persists well into middle age, affecting their own daughters as well. Lurking behind the conflicts is a family secret that Sophie had planned, but failed, to reveal. Decades later, when Rose finally uncovers it, the Malinskys’ saga finally comes into sharp focus.
Review:
This book is a family drama that follows four sisters as they grow from children into adults. Their relationships morphed as they aged and had different life experiences. They each went on their own paths, even though they had the same upbringing. There was a fun twist at the end that I didn’t expect, but it made the ending satisfying.
Sister Acts is a great family saga!
Thank you iRead Book Tours for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign.
Content warnings: death of parent, attempted suicide, miscarriage, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism
Have you read Sister Acts? What did you think of it?
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