Sister Mine

New
Paperback
2013
$17.29

When Makeda and her twin sister Abby are born, they come into the world conjoined and sickly. The surgery to separate them weakens Abby so much that she will surely die-unless her parents make a bargain with the gods. For Makeda and Abby are not ordinary children, they are the offspring of Boysie, god of growing things, and his wife, a beautiful human woman. In exchange for Abby's life, Boysie agrees to live as a human, and his wife must spend her days as a monstrous sea creature.
Twenty years later...
Physically healthy but with no magical ability, Makeda has spent her whole life in the shadow of her sister Abby, who has twisted legs but an enchanted singing voice. By their magical relatives' standards, Makeda is just a donkey -a worthless human valuable only for her role in helping Abby survive. Tired of feeling second best, Makeda decides to move out on her own.
Makeda discovers that her new apartment building is also home to a talented rock band, and the band's leader, Brie, is a very cute boy with a distinct aura of magic about him. When Makeda's father goes missing, she must decide if she can trust Brie, or not...and her life may depend on the answer.

Synopsis

When Makeda and her twin sister Abby are born, they come into the world conjoined and sickly. The surgery to separate them weakens Abby so much that she will surely die-unless her parents make a bargain with the gods. For Makeda and Abby are not ordinary children, they are the offspring of Boysie, god of growing things, and his wife, a beautiful human woman. In exchange for Abby's life, Boysie agrees to live as a human, and his wife must spend her days as a monstrous sea creature.
Twenty years later...
Physically healthy but with no magical ability, Makeda has spent her whole life in the shadow of her sister Abby, who has twisted legs but an enchanted singing voice. By their magical relatives' standards, Makeda is just a donkey -a worthless human valuable only for her role in helping Abby survive. Tired of feeling second best, Makeda decides to move out on her own.
Makeda discovers that her new apartment building is also home to a talented rock band, and the band's leader, Brie, is a very cute boy with a distinct aura of magic about him. When Makeda's father goes missing, she must decide if she can trust Brie, or not...and her life may depend on the answer.

$17.29

Quantity

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 28 Nov 2013
ISBN 10: 1455528404
ISBN 13: 9781455528400
Book Overview: The long-awaited return of a beloved writer--Nalo Hopkinson is a homegrown, award-winning GCP author who has consistently garnered tremendous and widespread acclaim.

Media Reviews

Hopkinson has already captured readers with her unique combination of Caribbean folklore, sensual characters, and rhythmic prose. These stories further illustrate her broad range of subjects. Booklist on Skin Folk
The author of sci-fi classics The Salt Roads (2003) and Brown Girl in the Ring (1998), conjures up another hit with Sister Mine. Essence Magazine

As audacious as it is addictive. A Toronto Life Must Read
Acclaimed novelist Nalo Hopkinson is well-known for her unique postmodern mythos, often drawing on Caribbean folklore, and placing complex characters smack in the center of worlds whose magic isn't always kind and in which decisions are rarely easy. Her newest novel, Sister Mine, has a lighter edge than some of her previous work; it's an engaging, messy fable about the interconnectedness of even the little things in our lives...This is a book about family, and Sister Mine remains a suitably imperfect and vibrant story of family in all its unfathomable wonders and annoyances, and the power it holds over us - or gives us. --NPR
She's a powerful writer with an imagination that most of us would kill for. I have read everything she has written and am in awe of her many gifts. And her protagonists are unforgettable - formidable haunted women drawn with an almost unbearable honesty - seriously, who writes sisters like Nalo? Takes courage to be that true. --Junot Diaz, in the LA Times
While the fantastical is ever-present, it's the personal and familial that make Sister Mine engaging and captivating. Self-doubt, interpersonal conflict and the struggle for acceptance are just as powerful as the novel's magical objects. Hopkinson's deeply saturated, poetic language is perfect to relate this story, which is deeply felt. --Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Hopkinson is extremely talented at crafting complicated protagonists, and Makeda is no exception...Her books always feel like glimpses into worlds that are fully detailed and stand on their own...Another great novel from one of the best fantasy authors working today. --io9.com
A most impressive work . . . vivid and richly nuanced, utterly realistic yet still somehow touched with magic. --Toronto Star on The New Moon's Arms
[A] considerable talent for character, voice, and lushly sensual writing . . . her most convincing and complex character to date. --Locus on The New Moon's Arms
Sexy, disturbing, touching, wildly comic. A tour de force from one of our most striking new voices in fiction. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Salt Roads
Vibrant . . . stunning . . . Hopkinson puts her lyrical gifts to good use. --New York Times Book Review on Skin Folk
Rich and complex . . . Hopkinson owns one of the more important and original voices in SF. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Midnight Robber
Utterly original . . . the debut of a major talent. Gripping, memorable, and beautiful. --Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club on Brown Girl in the Ring
Hopkinson's most wildly imaginative novel since Brown Girl in the Ring.... and some of her most accomplished prose to date; at one point, she conveys the multivalent perceptions of Makeda through stunning passages of pure synaesthesia. --Locus
Hopkins writes in the tradition of African-American science fiction authors like Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler, but her approach is singularly expansive, a mythography of the black diaspora. (There are parallels with fellow Caribbean native Junot Diaz's work, not to mention King Rat, China Mieville's similarly musical urban fantasy.) . . . Hopkinson's prose intermingles the quotidian settings and cosmic mysticism with sly, assured ease. --National Post (Canada)
As audacious as it is addictive. --A Toronto Life Must Read
Hopkinson has lost none of her gift for salty, Caribbean-Canadian talk...and the relationship between Makeda and Abby always rings true: resentment and anger enduringly intertwined with love and loyalty. --Kirkus Reviews
With sly humor and great tenderness, Hopkinson draws out the hope residing in age and change. --Toronto Globe and Mail on The New Moon's Arms
A book of wonder, courage, and magic . . . an electrifying bravura performance by one of our most important writers. --Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao on The Salt Roads

Hopkinson has already captured readers with her unique combination of Caribbean folklore, sensual characters, and rhythmic prose. These stories further illustrate her broad range of subjects. --Booklist on Skin Folk
Succeeds on a grand scale . . . Hopkinson's narrative voice has a way of getting under the skin. --New York Times Book Review on Midnight Robber
Excellent . . . a bright, original mix of future urban decay and West Indian magic . . . strongly rooted in character and place. --Sunday Denver Post on Brown Girl in the Ring
The comingling of the fantastical and the real world in this urban fantasy is seamless and surprisingly credible . . . complex relationships and knotty family ties, all with a tasty supernatural flavor. --School Library Journal blog
Sister Mine explores kinship, twinship, and the intense rivalry and intimacy unique to sisters...a fast-paced, slyly transgressive, satisfying supernatural adventure. --The Cascadia Subduction Zone
The author of sci-fi classics The Salt Roads (2003) and Brown Girl in the Ring (1998), conjures up another hit with Sister Mine. --Essence Magazine
Is this really Hopkinson's first adult novel since 2007's The New Moon's Arms? It feels like an eternity. We heard her read from this story of twins, one with magic powers and one without, recently, and we were left dying to hear more. --io9.com

Author Bio

Nalo Hopkinson has published a number of short stories and is the author of four novels including The Salt Roads, Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, and New Moon's Arms. She is also the award-winning author of the short fiction collection Skin Folk. She is currently a professor at UC-Irvine.