While My Sister Sleeps, page 27
Without turning, she smiled. David. “I need a little grounding,” she said.
“Rephrase, please?”
She turned. “I haven't been to the greenhouse today. I'm sure everything's fine; other people watered. But I need my plants.”
“Can I drive you there?”
She held up her keys. “Got my own car.”
But he shook his head, quick and sure. “You shouldn't be alone.”
She wouldn't be alone. Her plants would be there. So would her cats.
Then again, if the greenhouse was what kept her sane, David needed to see it.
ALL was quiet. Sunday hours had ended, and the staff had closed up. Unlocking a side door, Molly led David inside. The air was cooler now. In another few weeks, dawn would find frost on the panes. It would melt with the sun, but return thicker as the days grew shorter and the air crisped. But the changes went well beyond fading leaves and harvested fruit. With the end of one season came the promise of another.
Like her father on his wave, Molly was along for the ride.
Slow things down, a frightened little voice cried. So she pulled a bag from the supply corner and dug her hands inside. She didn't speak, simply worked her fingers through the cool earth. No matter what the future held, whether Molly took over Snow Hill or decided to do something else entirely, there would always be this.
Finally feeling better, she looked up. “Too much, too fast. I needed this.” When she pulled out her hands, every nail was lined with dirt. “If you were hoping for pretty, you're in for a disappointment.”
“I'm not disappointed.”
Nor was Molly. David's temperament worked here. She sensed it the minute they arrived. Nothing at all about him changed the aura of the place.
Encouraged, she brushed off her hands and showed him around. Her aphelandra was bright with yellow flowers, her catharanthus with pink and white. Moving on, she gestured to a vivid orange bloom. “Hibiscus,” she said. “With controlled air and lots of love, we'll keep it blooming for another month or so.” She showed him her cactus garden, positioned for the greatest sun. And, of course, her shade plants. “My babies,” she said with a fond smile.
A thunk came, followed by a plaintive meow and the scurry of paws as furry bodies flew past. Returning to the corner, Molly found her bag on its side in a spray of spilled dirt. One cat remained. It was Cyrus, an arthritic Maine coon that must have figured he couldn't move fast enough to try to escape. Carrying him to a bench, Molly settled him on her lap and stroked the soft spot between his ears. An old man, he had lived at the nursery since she was a teenager. She wouldn't have him much longer. But he was a sweet thing and, suddenly, making him comfortable mattered. He could do with less space, was even docile enough in his dotage to tolerate a small, skittish cat. The cottage might work really well.
Her cottage. Once the sorrow of the next few days passed, once Robin's things were home with Kathryn—where they were meant to be—Molly would feel the excitement. She would unpack her own things, rearrange furniture, even make some of the improvements Terrance Field had planned. Knowing that memories of Robin would always be there gave her a deep sense of warmth.
A new sound interrupted her thoughts. David had found a broom and was cleaning up the spilled dirt.
Touched, she said a fast, “You don't need to do that.”
He simply smiled and continued to sweep.
acknowledgments
My deepest thanks go to Eileen Wilson for sharing her knowledge of the medical issues faced by the Snow family and to Shelley Lewis for helping make Snow Hill a credible plant nursery. Instances where I've strayed from pure fact should be blamed on literary license, not on either of these two wonderful women.
I am eternally grateful to Phyllis Grann, whose editorial guidance has improved my writing immeasurably, and to my agent, Amy Berkower, for her unstinting support.
As always, I am blessed by my family, which helps me in countless untold ways.
readers’ guide
The questions and topics that follow are designed to enhance your book club's discussion of Barbara Delinsky's While My Sister Sleeps. We hope they will enrich your experience of this deeply moving novel. For special reading group features, visit the author's Web site at www.barbaradelinsky.com.
A master storyteller, best-selling author Barbara Delinsky has captivated millions of readers worldwide with her emotionally powerful novels. While My Sister Sleeps takes the intensity to new heights. This is the story of a family forced to confront difficult truths while finding the courage to love each other enough to let go.
Molly and Robin Snow, sisters who are incredibly close yet incredibly different, are in the prime of life. Robin has always been the hardworking star, an elite marathoner in peak condition, even training for the upcoming Olympic trials. She relies on Molly in countless ways, though Molly must also maintain long hours at the family business, a plant and tree nursery. When Robin suffers a massive heart attack, the roles are reversed, and Molly finds herself having to be the one in the spotlight, speaking up on behalf of her sister. Though the doctors don't expect Robin to recover, her mother is not willing to accept such a grim prognosis. As she tries to deny Robin's fate, the discovery of a hidden journal forces her to confront reality—and the lifetime of secrets that kept the Snows from truly connecting as a family.
Raising provocative questions about family ties, repercussions of the past, and the toughest choices a parent could ever have to make, While My Sister Sleeps is a novel that will give you much to discuss.
DISCUSSION TOPICS
1. How would you characterize the relationship among Robin, Molly, and Chris? Does Chris play a different role because he is a son? How does the Snow family compare to yours?
2. How is Molly transformed during the week after Robin's heart attack? What does Molly discover about herself and about the range of emotions she and her sister evoked in each other?
3. What is at the root of Kathryn's controlling behavior? How did her past, including her experience with her own parents and her art teacher, influence her personality? Who has more power in the marriage: Kathryn or Charlie?
4. Discuss Snow Hill and what it means to Molly's family. What makes the Snows good at nurturing plants but not as good at nurturing one another? What kinds of healing does Molly experience through her work at Snow Hill?
5. What do Charlie's religious beliefs say about him and about the differences between him and the other members of his family?
6. As parents, what family memories do Chris and Erin create for their daughter, Chloe? How does their approach to parenting compare to Charlie and Kathryn's?
7. How does Alexis's illness shape the novel's storyline? What parallels exist between her situation and Kathryn's state of denial?
8. How much is Nick entitled to know, as a reporter and as a friend of Robin's? Is Robin entitled to less privacy because she is a public figure, with a wide circle of fans who are concerned about her?
9. What determines whether Liz will be a threat to Chris's marriage? How is Liz's role in the novel different from Peter's? How much does the past matter in a marriage, especially events that took place before the wedding?
10. What was it like to read Robin's journal after hearing so much about her? Captured in her own words, how does her life compare to other people's impressions of her?
11. What does Kathryn have to do in order to let go? What does it take to help her see the truth about her circumstances—and Robin's?
12. How is Marjorie's family affected by her dementia? What do the connections among Marjorie, Kathryn, and Molly show us about mothers and daughters? What traits, emotional and otherwise, are passed from one generation to the next in While My Sister Sleeps?
13. Why is David willing to look out for Alexis? What makes him such a caring teacher? What makes him such a tough opponent against Nick?
14. Ultimately, what legacy does Robin leave for her family? What intangible gifts does Molly inherit from her sister?
15. Discuss the medical issues raised by Robin's story. Is it unethical to keep a child from knowing the identity of his or her biological parents? How would you have handled the end-of-life-care questions raised by Robin's heart attack?
16. How do secrets affect the characters in While My Sister Sleeps and in Barbara Delinsky's other novels? When is it best to let a secret remain hidden? When is it best to reveal the truth?
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Barbara Delinsky
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States by Doubleday, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.doubleday.com
DOUBLEDAY and the DD colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Delinsky, Barbara
While my sister sleeps / by Barbara Delinsky. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Sisters—Fiction. 2. Women runners—Fiction. 3. Marathon running—Fiction.
4. Myocardial infarction—Patients—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3554.E4427 W48 2008
813′.54—dc22
2008028457
eISBN: 978-0-385-52931-0
v3.0
Barbara Delinsky, While My Sister Sleeps
