Non­fic­tion

Los­ing My Sister

  • From the Publisher
April 23, 2012
The rela­tion­ship between sis­ters is typ­i­cal­ly the longest in a wom­an’s life. It can also be the most com­plex.Los­ing My Sis­ter is a poignant and uplift­ing mem­oir about two sis­ters in a Jew­ish fam­i­ly in Rock Hill, South Car­oli­na. Author Judy and her sis­ter, Bren­da, played piano duets, shared bracelets, shared every­thing. Bren­daand­Judy. They were one long word. When Bren­da and Judy were in their thir­ties, their par­ents were diag­nosed with grave ill­ness­es. Old­er sis­ter Bren­da had always been the strong one. Lit­tle sis­ter Judy was the sweet one. Sud­den­ly, Judy dis­agreed with Bren­da. Bren­da, grap­pling with prob­lems at home, sud­den­ly seemed vul­ner­a­ble. They’d stepped out of their famil­iar roles; noth­ing was the same. They lost their par­ents and near­ly lost each oth­er. Before they reached the out­er edge, they came back togeth­er. Years lat­er, an impend­ing and even clos­er death echoed their par­ents’ deaths. This time, it was Bren­da. Again: unfa­mil­iar ter­ri­to­ry. Again, the two sis­ters became unrec­og­niz­able to each oth­er, their rela­tion­ship unrec­og­niz­able. Just before the end, they re-dis­cov­ered the pure­ly ordi­nary splen­dor of the love they had for each oth­er. Dur­ing their last four months togeth­er, their rela­tion­ship shone like the mar­velous thing it was.

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