Review by Booklist Review
The rent-stabilized New York City apartment Rose and Cecilia's eccentric, absent mother left them serves as base for the sisters, the yin and yang of Burton's (The World Cannot Give, 2022) third novel. As adults, impulsive Cecilia disappears around the world chasing meaning, while Rose finds a coding job and a boyfriend with a better, cleaner apartment. When Cecilia returns to New York at the book's opening, something is different. Maybe this time Cecilia really will come through and help Rose plan her wedding. But alas, Cecilia is pulled into a mysterious cabaret on a boat called Avalon and disappears again. One last time, Rose chases Cecilia, worried for her safety, but when she too finds Avalon, it's her own life that upends. Like Burton's prior novels, this book is moody, musical, and mystical, elements that become catalysts for characters to make existential decisions about how to live. Among Burton's strengths are descriptions of the city and of the hard choices we all make. Readers will enjoy this satisfying story of sisters trying to understand each other.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Adeptly warping traditional fairy tropes, Burton (The World Cannot Give) weaves a lush ode to searching for the magic in life. Thanks to a neglectful mother, sisters Rose and Cecilia all but raised themselves in New York City. Whereas flighty Cecilia took off to search for love and adventure on her 18th birthday, Rose stayed put, building a stable life that includes a good job as a coder and a strong, loving relationship with Caleb, her boyfriend of five years. Now Cecilia's back in town, and though Rose loves her sister deeply, years of witnessing Cecilia drift, coupled with the criticism of her sister she's heard from others, has Rose questioning Cecilia's place in her life. Then Cecilia begins to act even more erratically, talking about fairies and a mysterious, possibly mystical cabaret called Avalon before disappearing. Now Rose must choose whether to follow the magic and bring her sister home or remain rooted in the real world. Dreams and desires play a central role in this modern-day hero's journey as the author teasingly unspools the truth about Avalon, all the while raising poignant questions about happiness, need, and personal growth, and leading readers to a startling and satisfying conclusion. This is a treat. Agent: Emma Parry, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.(Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two sisters chase a fairy tale across Manhattan. Being raised by an eccentric grifter who fancies herself a "professional muse" affects sisters Rose and Cecelia Foster in different ways. Musician Cecelia blows off Juilliard to become an irresponsible, "idiotically openhearted" mess, flitting from lover to lover and continent to continent while seeking something ineffable; talented artist Rose, on the other hand, eschews creativity for predictability, double-majoring in math and computer science while maintaining the lease on their childhood apartment so that Cecelia will always have somewhere to land. Rose is a 28-year-old coder, engaged to pragmatic tech bro Caleb, when Cecelia, 30, leaves her new husband, Paul, and moves back in with her sister, claiming she's there to stay. Rose's hopes are high until Cecelia comes home one night clutching a card calligraphed with "THE AVALON CABARET" and "Another life is possible." Cecelia starts behaving erratically, and when she ghosts Rose on Thanksgiving, then turns up the next morning rambling about magic and a little red boat, Rose snaps and evicts her. Weeks pass, and then Paul reaches out: Cecelia called him to say goodbye and asked him to tell Rose she was "going away with the fairies." Caleb tells Rose to forget Cecelia; instead, Rose secretly teams up with Paul to search for answers, growing increasingly disillusioned with her own staid existence as their investigation progresses. Set in a New York by turns gritty and glittering, Burton's latest enthralls while exploring the frequently fraught nature of adult sibling relationships. Cecelia serves as the book's third rail, dividing its characters and imbuing every scene with a crackling tension. At once spellbinding and sincere. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
