Losing Charlotte

Rating

Losing Charlotte is the story of two sisters who grew up together on a horse ranch in Kentucky. Knox, the younger of the two girls, always lived in the shadow of her older sister Charlotte, who moved to New York City after college. But even as their lives go in different directions, the two sisters remain extremely close. At the age of 30, Charlotte meets and falls in love with Bruce, and they get engaged a few months later. When Charlotte becomes pregnant her family fly to New York to be with her during the birth, and they find she has just given birth to premature twins. Knox and Bruce see her briefly afterwards and are caught up in euphoria and delight. Not thirty minutes later, the doctor appears from the operation room to inform them that Charlotte has died from a rare complication in which she lost too much blood to survive. Shocked and devastated, the family return to Kentucky to heal, but Knox decides she must go back to New York to help take care of the newborn twins. Together, Knox and Bruce try to come to terms with their tragic loss. A poignant and moving story, Losing Charlotte is a big, strong, warm family chronicle, underpinned by issues of identity, love, rel

Promotional Information

An atmospheric, beautifully written and moving debut novel from a major new talent

About the Author

Heather Clay is a graduate of Middlebury College and Columbia University's School of the Arts. She has published short fiction in The New Yorker's debut fiction issue, and written for Parenting magazine. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two daughters. This is her first novel.

Reviews

Clay's promising if uneven debut scrutinizes the complicated relationship between two very different sisters. Knox Bolling has always resented her beautiful sister, Charlotte, and blames Charlotte for her situation. She's 34, living on her parents' Kentucky horse farm and unable to commit to her boyfriend's repeated marriage proposals. Charlotte, on the other hand, has moved to New York City, where she dabbles in acting and holds a series of dead-end jobs before meeting money manager Bruce Tavert, who, after a brief courtship, proposes. Their intention to start a family, however, proves deadly for Charlotte, who dies in childbirth, leaving Bruce with premature twin boys and providing Knox with an opportunity to explore life outside of Kentucky by coming to New York to help Bruce. Things quickly get creepy as Knox tries out life as Charlotte, and the narrative takes on a stark gothic eeriness. New York is more difficult than Kentucky for Clay to nail down, and some of Knox's late-book behavior verges on Fatal Attraction-type obsession before backtracking into something just short of prudent uplift. It's a strange mix-not altogether unappealing, but not a knockout, either. (Mar.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

In her arresting debut, New Yorker contributor Clay tackles sibling relationships, familial bonds, duty, and honor. Readers meet two sisters with a strained relationship: Knox, who lives on her family's Kentucky horse farm, and Charlotte, who lives in New York City. When the unthinkable happens and Charlotte dies from a hemorrhage after childbirth, Knox leaves her comfortable, familiar life behind to help Charlotte's husband, Bruce, a virtual stranger, care for his twin sons. As they work together through grief, loss, and exhaustion, Knox finds a way to honor the sister she never really knew. Verdict Highly recommended for those who enjoy themes about family and sibling relationships and fans of women's fiction a la Elizabeth Berg, Anne Lamott, Alice Hoffman, and Jodi Picoult.-Shaunna Hunter, Hampden-Sydney Coll., VA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

"A moving debut from a writer of powerful descriptive range." * Daily Mail * "Heather Clay is a graceful and assured new writer with a great gift for character: the people in her fiction are as complex, beautiful and real as they are in life. Losing Charlotte is a spellbinding first novel." -- Lauren Groff, author of The Monsters of Templeton "Clay expertly describes a world where the natural rhythm of nature is the basis of life - something that is important to the central character until her life is turned upside down when she loses her beloved sister, Charlotte" * No. 1! * "Bold and confident" * International Herald Tribune *

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