“‘I’ll just stand outside our window reciting poetry all day long,’ said Jack as he drank from his glass of wine. ‘What languor would his silence show / How full of fire his speech would glow! / How artless was the note which spoke / Of love again, and yet again.’ As Jack said the words, theatrical over the dancing shadows of the candlelight, I felt a shiver over my skin.’”

And so it goes that a bright woman at the height of her young life, having worked hard to attain the best possible job she could with her talents and education, falls in love with a former college friend, the man who will become the great love of her life. But as they prepare to marry, her sister does the unthinkable, and the race to reinvent their relationship becomes the dramatic tale of SISTERS OF A HALVED HEART.

"Although we are seeing things from [Mira's] point of view, we feel them from each character’s perspective --- a real star turn for Roy’s light prose and her magic for making the unthinkable thinkable."

Mira Guhathakurta is a poetry editor at a distinguished literary magazine in New York. She’s not looking for a Romeo, but then here comes Jack from college --- who is kind, funny and intelligent --- and she surprisingly connects with him as her soulmate. Once their coupling is steady enough, she takes him home to meet her beloved father and dear sister, Joy. Once the siblings’ otherwise loving duet turns into a fractured cry of deceit and anger, their poor father's heart is broken. 

Who is the most dishonest of these family members? Who else has created a betrayal, a rift, a mistaken identity that could quickly dissipate all the love this family has ever had for each other? As Mira begins to reinvent herself, she realizes that everyone has some deception in their backstories and a lie that must be managed before good things can happen for them again.

The narratives we create around love, the need for one special person, the reasons we should be together, and the life that we wish to build with them are the focal points of SISTERS OF A HALVED HEART. As evident from the title, Nayantara Roy creates a very suspenseful story of how, one by one, this torn-apart family must live up to and make amends for their own actions and thoughts, all of which have affected their stealthiness and are far more impactful than Joy’s betrayal. As Mira and Joy learn about themselves, will they be able to begin again --- as women, family and sisters?

Mira and Joy are three-dimensional characters, dramatically different but relatable types. Mira delves back into work, punishing herself with long hours and crazy fervor, and even working during summer hours (in publishing, that’s a half-day every Friday): “On that day, the office was usually desolate, with only a handful of assistants or a diligent intern at work even in the morning hours…. I welcomed work as I had three and a half years ago, finding solace in a rhythm and absorption that felt like I had some use in the world.” 

SISTERS OF A HALVED HEART is narrated by Mira. Eventually, though, Roy makes us understand just how blown away she is by the pain of the betrayal, yet how imperative it is to unite the family again, regardless of who did what to whom. They manage to come together constantly in order to fix one problem after another. Plus, the appearance of their eccentric Ma does not make it any easier when their father takes ill and family secrets can no longer stay buried.

There is a genuine compulsiveness to how I wanted to get to the “heart” of this story. Mira’s narration is moving and puts readers in a strange position. Although we are seeing things from her point of view, we feel them from each character’s perspective --- a real star turn for Roy’s light prose and her magic for making the unthinkable thinkable. Take a trip this summer inside the pages of this engaging and riveting family tale.