About
The Book:
Author: Katherine Rothschild
Paperback Pub. Date: December
7, 2021
Publisher: Soho Teen
Formats: Hardcover,
Paperback, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 288
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
In the wake of sudden tragedy, twin sisters uncover a secret that rips open their world. Katherine Rothschild explores the pain and power of forgiveness in a stunning debut novel that will shatter your heart and piece it back together, one truth at a time.
Sixteen-year-old Sabine Braxton doesn’t have much in common with her identical twin, Blythe. When their father dies from an unexpected illness, each copes with the loss in her own way—Sabine by “poeting” (an uncontrollable quirk of bursting into poetry at inappropriate moments) and Blythe by obsessing over getting into MIT, their father’s alma mater. Neither can offer each other much support . . . at least not until their emotionally detached mother moves them into a ramshackle Bay Area mansion owned by a stranger named Charlie.
Soon, the sisters unite in a mission to figure out who Charlie is and why he seems to know everything about them. They make a life-changing discovery:their parents were hiding secrets about their sexual identities. The revelation unravels Sabine’s world, while practical Blythe seems to take everything in stride. Once again at odds with her sister, Sabine chooses to learn all she can about the father she never knew. Ultimately, she must decide if she can embrace his last wish for a family legacy--even if it means accepting a new idea of what it means to be a family.
Praise for Wider than the Sky
“Sabine’s struggle to reconcile her memory of her father with the man he really
was—and to make room in her life for his hopes as well as her own—cuts to the
heart of what it means to love someone unconditionally. Wider than the
Sky skillfully weaves multiple character arcs together to examine the
ideas of home, hope, and family in surprising new ways.”—Misa Sugiura, It's
Not Like It's a Secret
"Lyrical and lovely, Wider than the Sky is one of those
rare books that has everything—masterful storytelling, a great love story,
important themes, razor-sharp wit, and memorable characters. It's a gorgeous
debut that will capture your heart."—Corina Vacco, Delacorte
Prize–winning author of My Chemical Mountain
“I haven’t stopped thinking about these sisters since I first read Wider
than the Sky. Sabine and Blythe will leap off the page and live in your
memories like old friends. There is so much heart and humor in Katherine’s
writing; even as her characters grapple with serious concerns and issues, she
captures how life can slice us open and yet give us the ability to laugh and
love and hope through the deepest pain and loss.”—Jennifer Chambliss
Bertman, New York Times bestselling author of Book
Scavenger
“Rothschild’s story showcases how secrets impede a person’s ability to see the
world clearly and that self-acceptance and honesty are the keys to a happy
ending.”—School Library Journal
“Change comes suddenly to the lives of 16-year-old Sabine and her identical
twin sister, Blythe, when their father dies unexpectedly, prompting their
mother and a strange man named Charlie to move the girls to the small town of
Thornewood . . . Rothschild’s first novel is accomplished and nicely plot-rich
with some interesting quirks, chief among them being Sabine’s deep-rooted love
for Emily Dickinson’s poetry and her compulsive need to recite it.”—Booklist
“Kath Rothschild’s Wider than the Sky is pitch perfect! Young
adult readers will fall in love with her wonderfully quirky narrator Sabine and
her swoony romance with Kai. Combine that with family secrets and a mysterious
stranger and you have the ingredients for a compelling read. I cannot wait to
put it in the hands of my young customers!”—Kathleen Caldwell, A Great Good
Place for Books (Oakland, CA)
My Review:
Wider than the Sky by Katherine Rothschild was a quick read, with teenage romance and angst.
We follow 16-year-old Sabine, a girl with a "funny quirk": she compulsively blurts out Emily Dickinson poetry when faced with heightened emotion. I don't know many teenagers who blurt out any poetry on the daily, but I think the author was using this as a story-telling device. When taken that way, it does lend itself to the story in a lyrical sense. But requires a suspension of disbelief (from not just a reality standpoint, but a mental health standpoint).
Her and her twin sister Blythe are dealing with the tragedy of losing their father, when their mother uproots them from their childhood home to live with a complete stranger. This is the first of many "mysteries" Sabine encounters, as she and Blythe learn more about who their father really was. Unfortunately, in this one, high school drama overshadows a potential large family dynamic book, which took away what drew me to the book in the first place.
Sabine falls in "love" with a boy at school, there's a love-V (as it is not a triangle) that is introduced, and she makes some very selfish choices. I don't blame her for some of it, as the adults in her life do not healthily address any of the issues that were hidden from Sabine and Blythe. There is, in my opinion, some harmful rep regarding HIV/death, queer relationships, and polyamorous relationships. To be honest, these things felt forced into the story and never quite developed where they should've been.
The writing is quite beautiful in parts, with the inclusion of poetry and talk of language. The story is fast-paced, as there are multiple plot points going on, so the urge to keep turning the page is there. A short book, at only 288 pages, readers will get through it fairly quickly.
Overall, while it wasn't exactly what it claimed to be on the tin, Wider than the Sky did hold my attention. If it was presented as more of a high school drama then a family drama I think that would hold truer to the book. But I see potential in future books by Katherine Rothschild. I think that if the expectations going into the book are adjusted, more readers who will like this book will find it.
About Katherine Rothschild:
Katherine
Rothschild is a Lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford
University, a former ballet and Arabic dance instructor, and an obsessive
Twitter food truck-follower. Her first-person essays have been published on
KQED/NPR, in The San Francisco Chronicle, and other Bay Area and California
publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing, a PhD in Composition and
Applied Linguistics, has received artist’s grants from Vermont Studio Center
and Kindlings West, and is a longtime member of the SCBWI. She lives in the San
Francisco Bay Area with her family. Her debut novel is Wider Than the
Sky from Soho Teen. Find her on Twitter @Kath_Rothschild.
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Giveaway
Details:
3
winners will win a hardcover copy of WIDER THAN THE SKY, US Only.
3
winners will win a paperback copy of WIDER THAN THE SKY, US Only.
Tour Schedule:
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12/6/2021 |
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12/18/2021 |
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12/25/2021 |
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Week Four:
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12/26/2021 |
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12/27/2021 |
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12/28/2021 |
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12/29/2021 |
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12/30/2021 |
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12/31/2021 |
Review |
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