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 Dillon has made a life for herself and her
three daughters β Regis, Agnes, and Cecilia β at Star of
the Sea Academy on the magical Connecticut shore. Here she
teaches art at the convent schoolβs beautiful seaside
campus, over which Honorβs 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 Dillon, broke her
heartβand tore their little family apart. Now, hearing of
Regisβs impending marriage, John has ended his self-
imposed exile and returned to the family heβs 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 β and a
passion that may have been interrupted but that has never
waned.
Some things, like sandcastles, donβt survive the changing
tides. But love, family, and friendship β just as fragile β
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 β
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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