This was a moving story about a father and his daughters and what happens when it is revealed that their family is one sister bigger than they thought ... I found this to be a delightful and warm novel about family, forgiveness, and fairytales. My favorite parts of the story were from Walter's perspective from the past, which helped round out the story. Puppeteering is not something I think much about, but the author wrote about it in a way that gave it a lot of charm. I was really satisfied with this audiobook!

Three adult daughters have almost nothing in common aside from their father and his legacy as a master puppeteer. Their lives with their father were dissimilar and is the source of resentment between them. Now that their father’s health is declining, they gain access to his will and see that there are some demanding and demeaning stipulations included. The sisters struggle to come together in their care for their father, each other, and themselves.

This was an excellent read! I loved the exploration of the sisters’ lives, how different they were because of the differences in their father’s treatment of them, and how that affected them throughout their adult life. I also loved how the author examined memories and one’s perception of the past versus what actually happened through the use of old family videos and flashbacks.

There were three main protagonists, and they were all well written. I enjoyed their similarities from being siblings but how distinct they still were. They were motivated by completely different things, which was explained well throughout the work by flashbacks.

I also enjoyed the puppetry aspect of the work. I’ve never given much thought to puppets and marionettes, and I enjoyed the details about the shows and puppets themselves that were included throughout the story. There were also many fairytale references as one of the sisters writes alternative fairytales, and they often paralleled the primary plot, which was enjoyable and masterfully done.

This was a wonderful read about family, coming together, and personal struggles and growth. I listened to the audiobook version and thought the narrator did an excellent job. Though I don’t normally read works like this, I highly recommend it!

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

3 sisters from 3 different mothers share the same, famous, puppeteer father. Jan, Rosie and Cora experience vastly different childhood’s. Now, as adults, they come together after their father, Walter Gray, is losing his memory and is out in a home. Discovering some crazy stipulations to receiving an inheritance doubled with the fact that there may be a 4th sister, the women come together in support of one another. This is story about the meaning of family, the evolution of family and also forgiveness. Overall this was a great story that I’d recommend.
***Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

This story follows one father, his three known daughters and their mothers. As their father is sinking into dementia and sure to die, his daughters need to come to terms with their childhoods and their father's love or lack of love to each of them. He is a wealthy man and his will contains a codicil that sends each on a quest. Plus, of course, family secrets come to light.

I found the premise of this story to be interesting however, with the exception of Rosie I didn't get to know the daughters or their father very well. I could not actually feel any of the sisters emotions, anger, hurt, insecurity. It was written in the text so I knew they felt it, but I just couldn't feel it. So I think I needed deeper character development.

Really enjoyed this book about a crew of sisters and their pupeteering/filandering dad. Each sister had some serious stuff going on and I enjoyed their foibles. I sort of wish I had read this gs listened as I didn’t love the narration but liked it enough. There was quite a bit going on here with various characters pov, fairy tales; a mystery sister and so forth but it came together nicely. Recommend for those that like family dramas with a bit of whimsy.

This was a lovely story about three daughters from different mothers and their famous puppeteer father. The father is turning 80 and he’s in frail health with dementia. He has written a will making strict requirements the daughters must adhere to in order to inherit his wealth. They also find out there is a fourth daughter they didn’t know about. The story is moody and references fairytales throughout. Overall it’s about family and forgiveness. It’s a fairly quick read that I really enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early audio copy. This is my unbiased review.

In the beginning this reminded me a lot of The Seven Sisters series - it’s clearly different, but I see the parallels and since I love that series this book started with a leg up. Did I continue to compare them? No, the stories are different - but the vibes are similar. I love these kinds of stories - they remind us that family is messy, and that’s okay. No matter how perfect it looks from the outside, everyone has problems and drama.

This one deals with the problems of dementia as well, which is an issue that I feel needs more attention like this. It’s scary to watch a loved one lose their mind in this way. It’s sad for everyone involved.

Thanks to NetGalley I listened to audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I really loved the way they told the story. It made it easy to connect with the characters.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

Think Shakespeare's "King Lear" but instead of an old man who ruled a kingdom you have a man that creates puppets and tells stories and you'll get Newton's THE PUPPETEER'S DAUGHTERS. Told through the voices of famed puppeteer and master manipulator Walter Gray's three daughters, Newton gives us a study on what it means to be family, and what it means to be sisters. As Walter's mind fails him, his daughters, Jane, Rosie, and Cora are given not only the conditions Walter has set in order for them to obtain their inheritances, but also with the new information that they have a sibling they didn't know existed. The problem is that dementia has taken Walter from them so that's the only information they know. Told through a mix of present day and memories of the past, readers see Walter's rise to fame... and his romances with various women that have resulted in his daughters all while the daughters grapple with their own emotions of sharing their father with his other families.

This is a quick read and honestly, I didn't think I'd be reading a novel about puppeteers anytime soon, but I'm glad I did. While this isn't my normal type of book to read, I did enjoy it and appreciated the humanity of it.

Lauren Ezzo does a decent job with the audiobook narration, though their male voices aren't great and were somewhat distracting.

I'm having trouble connecting with the audiobook. For this book, I think i'd prefer a physical copy to read as its a bit much to take in via audio. thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC of the audiobook, I look forward to purchasing the physical copy when its released.