Three sisters, Vanessa, Ellie and Georgiana, have gotten together with their mother to celebrate her 60th birthday but what was supposed to be a joyous occasion becomes a moment for learning some truths. Penelope tells her daughters that she no longer wants to live in New York and with the memory of her deceased husband, as a matter of fact she is selling the apartment and moving to France to start a new life and a new relationship, and she has also found a letter in the family bible that uncovers that truth about their father.
The short letter addressed to Aunt Vera, the woman who raised their father, says that the boy was given up shortly after his birth and must be told that his mother died. The letter is signed with just one name – Hattie.
The sisters decide to begin a search for their long-lost grandmother. Along the way they will each come to terms with their lives and their own relationship issues. Vanessa, the oldest, is a career woman, married and with two daughters but she believes that the perfect marriage was the one her parents had. Ellie is the single glamourous girl. She wants a relationship so badly that she'll dupe herself into believing the lies men feed her. Georgiana is a successful model but dreams of being a photographer.
The Wentworth sisters set out to track down Hattie but of course Hattie hoped never to be found. Now she lives a successful life and will stop at nothing to prevent her carefully ordered world from crumbling.
This novel could have been a satisfying women's fiction story but the carefully construed plot line is marred by the melodrama thrown in towards the end as the sisters confront Hattie and actions become implausible and some things are never explained.
Added 11/07