SANDCASTLES chronicles the lives of a family with strong a
Irish heritage and Catholic values set in a Connecticut
seaside town involving four life-long friends -- Honor,
John, Tom and Bernie -- whose seemingly idyllic lives are
really wrought with turmoil and emotional turbulence.
Honor and John are artists who shared a passionate
connection, got married and had three daughters. On a trip
back to Ireland, something tragic happens on a cliff
involving John and his daughter Regis, something so tragic
that John would spend the next six years in prison and
nearly lose his family.
Bernie, who is John's sister and Honor's life-long best
friend, is the administrative nun at Star of the Sea
Academy. She and Tom had a young romance before she
ultimately chose to spend her life devoted to God instead of
marrying Tom -- resulting in much emotional second- guessing
for both of them, as it's obvious they never got over each
other.
Ms. Rice pens a lovely novel. She captures the complex
emotions of a tormented family -- a family troubled by
secrets. The scenery and setting of the book are beautiful,
as there's a theme of harsh ruggedness that matches the
emotional state of the characters. In the end, Rice makes
the case that secrets that form our mental prisons may often
be more damaging than the truth.
Painter Honor Sullivan has made a life for herself and her
three daughters–Regis, Agnes, and Cecilia–at Star of the Sea
Academy on the magical Connecticut shore. Here she teaches
art at the convent school’s beautiful seaside campus, over
which Honor’s sister-in-law, mother superior Bernadette
Ignatius, keeps a benevolent and watchful eye. No one could
have foreseen the day rebellious Regis would come home with
the stunning news that she was getting married. Nor could
anyone have guessed how that sudden announcement would soon
change all their lives forever.
Eleven years ago,
Honor thought she had the perfect home, the perfect love,
the perfect life. Then her husband, brilliant photographer
and sculptor John Sullivan, broke her heart–and tore their
little family apart. Now, hearing of Regis’s impending
marriage, John has ended his self-imposed exile and returned
to the family he’s always loved more than anything on earth.
What he finds is one daughter still hurting over his
abandonment, another who barely remembers him, and a third
who may be in more trouble than anyone knows. And then there
is Honor herself–and a passion that may have been
interrupted but that has never waned.
Some things,
like sandcastles, don’t survive the changing tides. But
love, family, and friendship–just as fragile–have a way of
standing against anything. It will take nothing short of a
miracle to heal the rift between father and daughter,
husband and wife, the past and the present–but a miracle is
exactly what is in the works at Star of the Sea Academy. The
only question is: Do you believe?
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