Book Summary and Reviews of While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

While My Sister Sleeps

by Barbara Delinsky

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (18):
  • Published:
  • Feb 2009, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Once again Barbara Delinsky brings us a masterful family portrait, filled with thought-provoking ideas about the nature of life itself, how emotions affect the decisions we make, and how letting go can be the hardest thing to do and the greatest expression of love all at the same time.

Molly and Robin Snow are sisters in the prime of their lives. So when Molly learns that Robin—an Olympic athlete and the favorite child—has suffered a massive heart attack, the news couldn’t be more shocking. At the hospital, the Snow family receives a grim prognosis: Robin may never regain consciousness.

Feelings of guilt and jealousy flare up as Robin's family struggles to cope and their relationships are put to the ultimate test. It’s up to Molly to make the tough decisions, and she soon makes discoveries that destroy some of her most cherished beliefs about the sister she thought she knew.

Read an interview with Barbara about While My Sister Sleeps.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Despite somewhat stilted writing, Delinsky’s popularity should ensure demand for this engaging exploration of every family’s worst nightmare." - Booklist.

"Delinsky is adept as portraying angst, but her story would have greatly benefited from a tighter telling and more complex characters." - Publishers Weekly.

"The novel's foregone conclusion does little to help a narrow plotline to expand." - Kirkus Reviews.

"This touching and heartbreaking novel is highly recommended for public libraries where women's fiction is popular. Readers of Kristin Hannah and Patricia Gaffney will enjoy it." - Library Journal.

This information about While My Sister Sleeps was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Barbara Delinsky Author Biography

In her own words: "I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother's death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Oh. Oh. Back up. You'll love this. When I was in high school, I was kicked out ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Barbara Delinsky's Website

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