Watch us shine : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Marisa de los Santos returns to the world of her beloved, bestselling novels Love Walked In and Belong to Me in an enthralling tale of sisterhood, sacrifice, and the enduring power of love.

"Bring me the Northern Lights."

Cornelia Brown is reeling from a terrifying act of violence when she gets word that her mother has been badly injured in an accident. Cornelia returns to Virginia, to the house she grew up in, and in the weeks that follow, she watches her mother Ellie struggle to recover, fluctuating between her usual crisp, can-do clarity and periods of delirium during which she seems haunted by a devastating loss from her past. In grief-stricken tones, Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the Northern Lights, and despite her confusion at this mysterious plea, Cornelia vows to do so: "She was my mother and she wanted the Northern Lights; I was her daughter and would have given her anything, anything."

With the help of her prickly sister, Ollie, Cornelia embarks on a mission to piece together the lost years of their mother's life: people, places, and events spanning Ellie's late teens through her mid-twenties. Cornelia and Ollie's quest takes them to unexpected places and into the worlds of strangers whose lives Ellie touched and irrevocably changed. As the sisters uncover truths about their mother's life--some beautiful, some ugly, some tragic--Cornelia herself begins to heal, to forgive herself, and to find her way back home.

Alternating between two timelines--Cornelia's story in the present, and that of the young Eleanor Campbell in the 1960s--Watch Us Shine explores the complicated bonds between sisters, the impossible demands of motherhood, and the power of human love to save us again and again.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The fifth in de los Santos's "Love Walked In" series (following I'd Give Anything) returns to the tender family and friends who surround Eleanor Brown and her daughter, Cornelia. It begins with life-altering moment for both women. When Eleanor has an accident, Cornelia leaves her beloved husband Teo and their children to help care for her. Cornelia recently had a frightening altercation with a gunman, so leaving home is something she needs to do to gain some clarity after the horrifying event. Nursing her mother gives Cornelia time to dig back into the history of Eleanor's life, and she uncovers some big secrets as her research leads her to the North Carolina beach town where a young Eleanor ("Ellie") grew up. The chapters' perspectives switch back and forth between Ellie and Cornelia, flipping from the 1960s to the present with ease. VERDICT Acclaimed best-seller de los Santos's writing is effusive and lush, painting poignant scenes like the stroke of an artist's brush. Her books and characters have a wide following, and her fans will be eagerly awaiting this lovely series installment that can also be read as a stand-alone.--Beth Liebman Gibbs

Publishers Weekly Review

De Los Santos revisits Cornelia Brown, heroine of Love Walked In, for a saccharine story of a mother's mysterious past. Cornelia, 44, is reeling after a man held a gun to her younger child's head in a grocery store. After she learns her mother, Eleanor, has been hit by a car, she packs up her two kids and drives south with her husband to Virginia to care for her. While Eleanor recovers in a rehab center, her memory begins to falter and she requests of Cornelia, "Bring me the northern lights." Baffled, Cornelia realizes how little she knows about her mother and enlists her sister and a friend to help understand the request. Flashbacks to the 1960s reveal details about Eleanor's sister, a kindhearted painter named Martha who writes to Eleanor about her boyfriend, who invites her to move with him to a utopian community of artists and writers. As Cornelia discovers a dark side to the utopia, she wrestles with the feeling that she can't protect her children from the dangers of the world. Unfortunately, the author's flatly drawn characters are depicted as either good or evil, and the cutesy conceits tend to grate. This one's for diehards only. Agent: Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency. (June)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Marisa de los Santos is an American author and poet. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Virginia. She earned an English degree from the University of Virginia, as well as an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D in English and Creative Writing from the University of Houston.

In addition to her collection of poetry entitled From the Bones Out, Marisa has written numerous novels, including: The Precious One, Falling Together, Belong to Me and Love Walked in. She also co-wrote Saving Lucas Biggs, with children's author, David Teague.

(Bowker Author Biography)