On the morning of her second wedding, Harri Ryan is rushed to a Dublin hospital with a panic attack. Since she has already left the same fiancΓ©, James, at the altar once before, this time he says goodbye and moves out of their shared apartment.
Harri is heartbroken, and although her twin brother George tries to cheer her up, she feels like something is really wrong with her. Her parents know more than they are letting on, and they are clearly hiding something. When George and Harri confront them, the news their parents share is devastating to the entire family. With knowledge of the truth of her past, Harri must now work to discover where the future will lead.
Harri is supported by her close group of friends. Her interior design business partner, Susan, is miserable in a marriage where her husband rejects and ignore her. Melissa is an overstressed working mother of two whose husband doesn't understand why she is unhappy. And Aidan, her twin brother's long-suffering boyfriend, is trying to find his own happiness.
Irish writer Anna McPartlin develops her characters to give us fully realized human beings who love, laugh, betray, feel guilty, forgive and are ultimately redeemed. Interspersed through the chapters are entries from a mysterious diary of a teenage girl living in a small Irish town almost 30 years earlier, which add a delicious and intriguing depth to the present-day story as more characters appear in both narratives. I highly recommend this excellent exploration of one woman's search for herself. This novel is well-developed women's fiction, with warmth and humor and a true understanding of what it means to love yourself and your family.
SOMETIMES LOVE TAKES A SECOND GLANCE...
When bride-to-be Harri Ryan ends up at the ER with a panic attack on her wedding day, her twin brother, George, jokes that she's the most glamorous patient there. But this is no joke. It's Harri's second try at the wedding, and when she returns to her Dublin apartment, her fiancΓ©, James, has already packed his belongings. Harri doesn't want to lose him, but she doesn't know how to convince James it won't happen a third time.
George, who knows Harri better than anyone, has a hunch there's more to the story than cold feet. He confronts their parents, who are acting strangely -- as if they're hiding a secret. And the truth they reluctantly reveal devastates both twins. Now, not only has Harri lost James, but George's relationship with his partner, Aidan, begins to fall apart, and both twins have to fight to hold on to those they love -- and to themselves. As the world they thought they knew crumbles around them, can Harri and George find a way to pick up the pieces before it's too late?
In her newest novel, talented young Irish writer Anna McPartlin paints a rich, multi-textured picture of ordinary people swept up in a scandal they never could have imagined. As Sure as the Sun manages to tickle your funny bone, tug at your heartstrings, and remind you never to give up on love.
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