While My Sister Sleeps, Barbara Delinsky
While My Sister Sleeps, Barbara Delinsky
4 Rating(s)
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While My Sister Sleeps

Author: Barbara Delinsky

Narrator: Michele Santopietro

Abridged: 6 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/17/2009


Synopsis

Following the success of The Secret Between Us, a book the Boston Globe hailed as “one of her best,” Barbara Delinsky returns with another moving and deeply satisfying novel, this one about the unique and emotionally complex world of siblings.

Molly and Robin Snow are sisters, and like all sisters they share a deep bond that sustains them through good times and bad. Their careers are flourishing—Molly is a horticulturist and Robin is a world-class runner—and they are in the prime of their lives. So when Molly receives the news that Robin has suffered a massive heart attack, she couldn’t be more shocked. At the hospital, the Snow family receives a grim prognosis: Robin may never regain consciousness.

As Robin’s parents and siblings struggle to cope, the complex nature of their relationship is put to the ultimate test. Molly has always lived in Robin’s shadow and her feelings for her have run the gamut, from love to resentment and back. The last time they spoke, they argued. But now there is so much more at stake. Molly’s parents fold under the devastating circumstances, and her brother retreats into the cool reserve that is shattering his own family. 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.

Once again New York Times bestselling author 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.

About The Author

Barbara Delinsky is a New York Times bestselling author with over thirty million copies of her books in print. She lives with her family in New England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Marta on February 16, 2009

Goodness, I had thought this book sounded so good when I read about it. So I contacted the author to see if she'd be kind enough to send me a copy. I have to say that this book is the most amazing book. It's going on my list of favorite books of all time! While the premise of the story is one we've......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on March 09, 2009

More of a 2.5 for me. There was just too much that Delinsky tried to cram into this book--too many people, too many issues. I really didn't feel like I knew the main characters or understood their motives.......more

Goodreads review by Bookworm on February 26, 2020

2.5 stars This isn’t a badly written book but it was just so mediocre and mundane that I was apathetic when reading it. The story didn’t do it for me. The issues around end of life when someone you love is on life support weren’t carved out enough. I think there was potential to go deeper into the di......more

Goodreads review by Nan on January 12, 2013

So many of the familiar Delinsky elements are here: a major character thwarted from her career path, a tangled family relationship, sibling tension. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. What makes this book so wonderful, however, is the tightness of the narrative. It takes place over a very sho......more

Goodreads review by Deanna on April 09, 2015

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting on a beautiful day at the cabin a couple of years ago. It grabbed me in the first few pages. The Snow family have a very tangled relationship filled with secrets, rivalries, and resentments. Robin Snow is the star athlete family and her younger sis......more


Quotes

PRAISE FOR WHILE MY SISTER SLEEPS

“Fast-paced entertainment… In her new family drama, Delinsky examines the roles people unconsciously play in families and how a mother’s single-minded passion to have one child fulfill a dream can create resentment in the other siblings.” —USA Today

From LIBRARY JOURNAL

Molly Snow isn't worried when she gets a phone call notifying her that her sister is in the ER. A world-class runner, 32-year-old Robin Snow has had many injuries, and Molly arrives at the hospital expecting nothing worse than an ankle sprain. But Robin has had a massive heart attack while running, and the prognosis is not good. As the devastated Snow family holds a bedside vigil, they learn things about Robin that alternately surprise and distress them. Graced by characters readers will come to care about, this is that rare book that deserves to have the phrase "impossible to put down" attached to it. Delinsky (The Secret Between Us) does a wonderful and realistic job portraying family dynamics; the relationship between Molly and Robin, in particular, is spot-on. 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.

From BOOKLIST

The Snow family faces a devastating crisis when oldest daughter Robin, a runner training for the Olympics, suffers a catastrophic heart attack. Molly, Robin’s younger sister, gets the call from the hospital and is immediately guilt-stricken: she was supposed to accompany Robin on her run. When Molly, her older brother, Chris, and her parents, Kathryn and Charlie, gather at the hospital, they learn that Robin is in a coma and might be brain dead. While Kathryn refuses to believe the worst, Molly reaches out to David, the handsome teacher who found Robin after the heart attack, and tries to determine whether Nick, a charming reporter who once dated Robin briefly, is truly concerned about the family or just pursuing a big story. The Snows try to come to grips with the reality that Robin might never wake up, and Molly, attempting to discern what Robin would want, stumbles across Robin’s diaries and learns some startling family secrets... Delinsky’s popularity should ensure demand for this engaging exploration of every family’s worst nightmare.


PRAISE FOR BARBARA DELINSKY’S PREVIOUS NOVELS

“Engrossing reading.” —People

Family Tree is warm, rich, textured and impossible to put down.” —Nora Roberts

“Absorbing, unpredictable storytelling—a winning combination.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)