The Sea Sisters - book review

The Sea Sisters

by Lucy Clarke

February 2014

This was the last book to be read during our recent holiday in the sun and if I am honest I think it is probably best read from the perspective of an exotic beach, where most of the action takes place.

Its a debut novel by Lucy Clarke, an avid diarist who travels for much of the year with her professional windsurfer husband - so I guess its no surprise that the book is based on a diary which follows the world of the roving surfer.

The book is really about two sisters and the love / hate relationship which can so easily exist. Siblings where one is conventional (Kate) and the other (Mia) a "free spirit", but in many ways they are more similar than they think. 

Mia runs off to travel the world but veers off track and apparently commits suicide in Bali leaving her sister and friends searching for answers. To try and make sense of the tragedy Kate sets off to retrace Mia's six month journey with the tale being narrated in the two voices of Kate and the parallel ghostly account coming from Mia's comprehensive journal.

Perhaps the big leap of credibility is Kate's discipline to only read one day at a time and never to read ahead of her own journey. I find this an unlikely premise, but it is the interweaving of the two strands which makes this book a bit special so I will happily set this observation aside. In fact the story line is so compelling that I read it in a single 24 hour period, completing it during the wee hours as we flew back from the Caribbean, turning page after page till a gripping climax is reached.

It is an insight into the world of siblings and the betrayal which can occur, where relationships fracture, where communications fail but where ultimately love can restore.

Confused? Grab a copy of this book from Amazon - its a cut above the average its skilful delivery will have you hooked by the end of the first chapter.