Bittersweet
Colleen McCullough
Simon & Schuster, Aug 19 2014, $26.00
ISBN: 9781476755410
In Corunda, New South Wales, Australia, St Mark's Church of England Reverend Thomas Latimer sires twins (Edda
and Grace) with his first wife, but their mom dies in childbirth. The church rector mourns his loss, but soon
marries his stern housekeeper. Two years
after the birth of his first children, Thomas sires another set of twin girls (Heather and Katherine).
By 1926, Thomas encourages his four young adult daughters to leave
their home to attend the nearby new Corunda nursing school though each has
different BHAGs in mind. Edda wants to
become a doctor though she understands the bias against female physicians. Her twin Grace’s objective is more acceptable
by Australian standards as she wants to be a wife and mother. Tufts, as Heather’s siblings call her, wants
freedom mostly from the demands of her parents.
Finally Kitty wants acceptance for her brain instead of her beauty. Now as each begins their own unique adventure
in independence, the quartet knows there are two sure things in life: death and
through thick and thin they can always rely on her sisters to be there when it
really matters.
Bittersweet is a great family epic that provides readers with a profound
absorbing glimpse at Australia especially during the twentieth century decades between
the World Wars. Each of the lead sisters
is fully developed but also possesses differing personalities and diverse
desires as to what they want out of life.
As their respective lives bounce back and forth between sorrow, happiness
and feelings in-between, the four siblings remain steadfast in their belief that
they always have each other when the going turns ugly or simply Bittersweet regardless
of distance and other relationships.
Harriet Klausner
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