Thursday 23 July 2020

May's Book Club Choice-Folklore Fiction

The Winter Sister
by
Megan Collins





Title: The Winter Sister
Author: Megan Collins
Publisher: ATRIA Books
Publication Date: February 2019
Genre: Suspense Fiction
Summary: 
                                         SECRETS BETWEEN SISTERS ARE SACRED. 
                                                      SECRETS ARE DEADLY.

Sixteen years ago, Sylvie's sister, Persephone, never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found-and years later, her murder remains unsolved. In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, who is undergoing cancer treatment. Prone to unexplained "Dark Days" even before her daughter's death, Annie let her once close bond with Sylvie dissolve in the years after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion. Worse, Persephone's former boyfriend, Ben, is now a nurse at the cancer center where Annie is being treated. Sylvie has always believed that Ben was responsible for her sister's murder-but she carries her own guilt about that night, guilt that traps her in the past while the world goes on around her.
As she navigates the complicated relationship with her mother, Sylvie begins to uncover the secrets that fill their house-and what really happened the night Persephone died-in this spellbinding and suspenseful debut.

ISBN: 978-1-9821-0014-8


Review:
OK so for this month it was hard to find books in the category of folklore fiction, after a little bit of searching I found a blog post with what were apparently 8 of them of which this was one. Now on that basis and it giving the impression it had its roots in the story of Demeter and Persephone we all thought this would be a good book for this month. But if it did its the vaguest sort of connection to the story. I think she mentioned once that  "she was rescuing Persephone from a life in the underworld". And that aside from the girl's name is the only tentative connection to the Greek myth! Which was really disappointing, as you know we've read a lot of greek mythology based books this year so far and I was looking forward to another one.
The book was an easy read but it was by no means suspenseful, you knew a lot of what was going to happen way before it did because she made it quite obvious. The reasons why Persephone came home bruised after spending time with Ben was just a stupid explanation and the father's motives for killing her were simplistic like a child had explained it.
At our book club meeting, we agreed that the book group questions were written to give it far more depth than it actually had.
All in all, it's not a book I'll read again and if I'm honest I won't be recommending it. 


Krystina xx



Book Club Score-5/10

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