Maine characters A novel

Estranged half-sisters Vivian and Lucy couldn't be more surprised to meet each other. After their father's sudden death, both women descend on his lakeside home in Fox Hill, Maine. Sophisticated Manhattan sommelier Vivian is intent on selling the idyllic cabin, while Lucy--the secret daughter her father kept hidden for decades--is determined to save her childhood sanctuary. As the women reluctantly navigate a summer together, they confront painful truths about family, belonging, and the complexities of their shared inheritance. Orenstein (Meant to Be Mine, 2022) crafts her characters with compassion and psychological acuity, giving weight to both women's internal struggles amidst a complicated family situation. The idyllic Maine setting pulls double duty as a postcard-worthy backdrop and the emotional centerpiece of their disputed inheritance. Readers who enjoyed the complicated dynamics in Christina Lauren's The Soulmate Equation (2021), the atmospheric settings of Elin Hilderbrand's beach reads, or the family secrets unveiled in Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising (2021) will find much to appreciate in Orenstein's latest novel, a tender, captivating exploration of how we forge connections with the family we choose and the one we're given.

Thrown together after their father's death, two half sisters from different worlds find common ground. When Vivian Levy, a 30-year-old sommelier from New York City, pulls up to her late father's vacation house in Fox Hill, Maine, she's confronted by someone she never thought she'd meet. In fact, Vivian wasn't even sure Lucy Webster actually existed. But there she is, looking both like and not like Vivian. It's Lucy's job to inform Vivian that they are half sisters, and Vivian's job to break the news that their father just died. Hank Levy kept Lucy a secret from Vivian (although she had suspicions), whereas Lucy, who grew up with her mother in Maine, knew about Vivian and always dreamed of meeting her. Unfortunately, it seems that their shared paternity is the only thing the women have in common. Lucy--who rarely spent time with Hank except for every July in the Fox Hill house--idolized her father. Vivian, who was raised on the Upper West Side and had every material advantage, resented her father for never being proud of her and for keeping this giant secret. Vivian wants to sell the house so she can use the money to open a wine bar with her obviously sleazy married boss/boyfriend. Lucy, recently separated from her high school sweetheart, is desperate to hold on to any shred of normalcy, and therefore wants to keep the house--despite, as Vivian constantly reminds her, having no legal claim to it. Orenstein should have edited out several side-plots to streamline the novel to its heart: the growing relationship between the estranged sisters. If you can move past the flawed conceit (no one in Maine would have mentioned Lucy to Vivian?) and the stilted dialogue, Orenstein's novel has just enough charm to carry it through. A quick read with some depth. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.