Sacrifice misinterpreted as selfishness becomes the catalyst that drives two beloved sisters, Mabel and Bertie Fischer, apart in Nancy Jensen’s compelling, multi-generational debut novel, The Sisters, selected as the #1 Indie Next Pick for December 2011. Initially set in the rural town of Juniper, Kentucky — where everyone’s dirty laundry is aired regardless if it’s hanging on the line or not — Mabel’s departure with Bertie’s sweetheart on the day of Bertie’s eighth grade graduation appears to both her sister and the town as an unforgivable act. The Sisters is based on the untold story surrounding Nancy Jensen’s own grandmother whose sister was not known to the family until an announcement revealed both her existence and her death. Because Jensen was never told her grandmother’s motivations for denying having a sister throughout her life, Jensen allowed her imagination to conjure forth her grandmother’s reasons and how these reasons for denying her sister’s presence might have affected not only her grandmother’s life but Jensen’s as well.
Though weighted with the hard-bitten truths surrounding dire familial misunderstandings, the ending of The Sisters conveyed through the dynamic character Grace’s eyes makes the journey over the span of eighty years and three generations of unforgettable women far worth the trip.
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