From the New York Times–bestselling author of
The Jane Austen Book Club, the story of an American
family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every
way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this
extraordinary novel.
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell,
sister Fern, and our narrator, Rosemary, who begins her
story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I spent the first
eighteen years of my life defined by this one fact: that I
was raised with a chimpanzee,” she tells us. “It’s never
going to be the first thing I share with someone. I tell you
Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as
my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion, I’d scarcely known a
moment alone. She was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my
whirlwind other half, and I loved her as a sister.”
Rosemary was not yet six when Fern was removed. Over the
years, she’s managed to block a lot of memories. She’s
smart, vulnerable, innocent, and culpable. With some guile,
she guides us through the darkness, penetrating secrets and
unearthing memories, leading us deeper into the mystery she
has dangled before us from the start. Stripping off the
protective masks that have hidden truths too painful to
acknowledge, in the end, “Rosemary” truly is for remembrance.
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