Review: Sisters of Heart & Snow

Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The award-winning author of How to Be an American Housewife returns with a poignant story of estranged sisters, forced together by family tragedy, who soon learn that sisterhood knows no limits.

Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths.

Married to a wonderful man and a mother to two strong-minded teens, Rachel hasn’t returned to her childhood home since being kicked out by her strict father after an act of careless teenage rebellion. Drew, her younger sister, followed her passion for music but takes side jobs to make ends meet and longs for the stability that has always eluded her. Both sisters recall how close they were, but the distance between them seems more than they can bridge. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian becomes enraged.

In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book—which tells the tale of real-life female samurai Tomoe Gozen, an epic saga of love, loss, and conflict during twelfth-century Japan—reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.

--My thoughts. We have past and present of two sisters and then a warrior, Tomoe Gozen. I enjoyed learning about Tomoe and the history. As always, Dilloway did an excellent job with this, weaving the past and present so seamlessly, I couldn't get enough. I loved the sisters, Drew with her carelessness or so it seemed, and then responsible Rachel.

I love how Dilloway brings her own background in each time for stories. I am a huge fan, and each time she just gets better and better. This one is so amazing, I think each sister, and Tomoe came away knowing a bit more about themselves and maybe more about the past-- I love that moment in a book when you say ahah, that is what the title means.

Killian has such a dark presence in this book at times though you just want to shake him and the mother. What a time to live in. Brilliant, just fabulous beyond words. Must read!

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.



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