California Sister
Moral dilemmas crash into fierce sisterly love
by Gloria Mattioni
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Pub Date Sep 15 2022 | Archive Date May 01 2024
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Description
Claire Waters, an Italian mystery writer living in Los Angeles, rushes to Italy after her older sister's devastating brain-hemorrhage, determined to restore her health-or help her die with dignity. Claire is a gritty decision-maker, a lone wolf who values freedom above all else. Her sister, Ondina-now on the edge of death or living a severely limited life-is wise, cautious, and sociable. They may be different, but have remained close despite the distance. Claire is faced with a dilemma impossible to solve. Would her non-verbal sister want to go on struggling, damaged as she is, or end her suffering? How can anybody know what's best for others?
Winner of the 2024 Independent Press Awards in the category Grief: Fiction. Winner of the 2022 Indies Today Awards in Best Contemporary Fiction. Two-Time Finalist in the 2023 Next Generation Indie Books Awards. Finalist in the 2023 American Writing Awardsin the Multi-Cultural Fiction category. Two-Time Winner in the 2022 Firebird Book Awards. November 2023 International Book Of The Month official selection of The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club and Reading Nation.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
"Cathartic, poignant and sensitive, California Sister explores the fine line where selflessness and selfishness coalesce into a muddle mess. Gloria Mattioni's heartrending novel is not the first to walk such emotionally charged ground, but it might be the best!" - IndiesToday (5-star review)
"A touching novel about sisterly love. An immediate audience-grabber and practical parable about the choices we make and the priorities that matter to us." - Readers' Favorite (5-star review)
"In California Sister, Gloria Mattioni explores sibling love and navigating family, distance, and desire. A poignant story of caring and coping and of growing apart and healing together, deftly traversing California to Italy and back. A deeply touching and heartfelt narrative." David Francis, author of The Great Inland Sea, Stray Dog Winter and Wedding Bush Road
"Gloria Mattioni crafts an engrossing, emotional story of love tested by distance, experience, and health crisis... a study in contrasts between Italy and Los Angeles; two siblings who are connected by birth, love, and promises; and the difference between taking charge and stepping aside... Highly recommended reading for women who look for emotionally charged stories of love, independence, and control." - Midwest Book Review by D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
"Fluidly transitioning between past to present and back again, Gloria Mattioni pits the silent desire of one sister against the needs of the other in a story that is both breathtakingly beautiful yet fearless in flaunting the ugly realities of life and death. California Sister will force you to think hard about who has the right to choose." Barbara Conrey, USA Today Bestselling author of Nowhere Near Goodbye
"In California Sister, Gloria Mattioni has given us a tender, angry, poetic, heartbreaking novel about the fragility of life, the miracle of sister-love and the potential of self-reflection and courage. You will be moved, and you will ask yourself the biggest questions life throws at us. Beautiful, haunting and ultimately life-affirming." Pete McCormack, writer and director
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781639883998 |
| PRICE | $17.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 324 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Meagan H, Reviewer
Thank you @netgalley and @atmopsherepree for the copy of California Sister by @gloriamattioni in exchange for an honest review!
📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 A beautifully narrated stor told over the years that will captivate your heart like no other story. California Sisters is a poignant and moving read that will bring about just every emotion that you could imagine. Gloria Mattioni brings to life a true testament about the depths of sisterly love and sacrifice.
Review is posted on Goodreads and will be up on Instagram soon!
Donna C, Reviewer
Can love save someone from the hell of a massive brain hemorrhage? California Sister is the story of Claire's desperate, determined, and devoted mission of saving her sister, Ondina, from the depths of this hell and giving her every opportunity to heal. Doggedly, Claire researches all she can find about hemorrhagic brain aneurysms and alternate treatments. She is willing to move mountains to bring Ondina back to her loving, adventuresome, creative, active self.
In California Sister Gloria Mattioni pulls the reader into this horrific tragedy where you feel the pain as Claire strives to save Ondina. Mattioni's writing is so descriptive that all of your senses are aroused as you feel you are in the landscapes of California and Italy, smelling the fragrance of a bougainvillea as well as an unkempt hospital room, hearing the sounds of nature and man, and feeling the warmth of Claire's hands on her sister as she massages her atrophying limbs.
California Sister is deeply moving and difficult to read at times because of the topic, but one of the most enlightening aspects is that the book is written from two perspectives - Claire's and Ondina's. Mattioni is to be commended for choosing to write from both viewpoints as it adds a depth to the story that many lack.
Claire to Ondina: "I was so presumptuous, Sis. I believed I could save you. My mistake, I guess, was not remembering whether anybody can ever save anybody else. Can anybody be so foolish and arrogant to think that they know best.? . . . I learned that love counts more than courage sometimes. And if love wasn't enough to heal you, I can still entertain the possibility that it warmed you up. Blowing on your cold, still limbs in the winter nights. Holding your hand in your dreams, where would run and jump and feel the moist sand under your bare, perfectly working feet."
