The Orphan Sister

by Gwendolen Gross

A lyrical and thought provoking novel perfect for book clubs, The Orphan Sister by Gwendolyn Gross questions the intricacies of nature and nurture, and the exact shape of sisterly love…

Clementine Lord is not an orphan. She just feels like one sometimes. One of triplets, a quirk of nature left her the odd one out. Odette and Olivia are identical; Clementine is a singleton. Biologically speaking, she came from her own egg. Practically speaking, she never quite left it. Then Clementine’s father—a pediatric neurologist who is an expert on children’s brains, but clueless when it comes to his own daughters—disappears, and his choices, both past and present, force the family dynamics to change at last. As the three sisters struggle to make sense of it, their mother must emerge from the greenhouse and leave the flowers that have long been the focus of her warmth and nurturing.

For Clementine, the next step means retracing the winding route that led her to this very to understand her father’s betrayal, the tragedy of her first lost love, her family’s divisions, and her best friend Eli’s sudden romantic interest. Most of all, she may finally have found the voice with which to share the inside story of being the odd sister out...

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Family, Womens Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dubbed the reigning queen of women's adventure fiction by Joanna Smith Rakoff in Book Magazine, Gwendolen Gross grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she studied science writing and voice performance. She spent a semester in Australia with a field studies program, studying spectacled fruit bats in the rainforest remnants of Northern Queensland.

After college she moved to San Francisco, then San Diego, and worked in publishing, as well as performing with the San Diego Opera Chorus. Through the San Diego Writing Center, she was selected for the PEN West Emerging Writers Program.

Gwendolen received an M.F.A. in fiction and poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poems have been published in dozens of literary magazines, including Salt Hill Journal, Global City Review, The Laurel Review, and Hubbub, where her poem was selected for the 1999 Adrienne Lee Award.

Her first novel, Field Guide, was issued by Henry Holt in April 2001 (Harvest paperback 2002), and her second, Getting Out, in spring 2002. These two women's adventure fiction novels received critical acclaim. She then shifted her focus to the dramas of motherhood. with her third novel, The Other Mother (Random House, 2007). Gwendolen's most recent novel, The Orphan Sister, was released in July 2011 (Simon and Schuster).

Gwendolen Gross is also an award-winning writing instructor and has led workshops at Sarah Lawrence College and the UCLA Extension online. Her guest lectures include appearances at the Fashion Institute of Technology, at Barnes and Noble's Educator's Night, and The World's Largest Writing Workshop. Gwendolen has worked as a snake and kinkajou demonstrator, naturalist, opera singer, editor, and mom. She lives in northern New Jersey with her family.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am I the only one that thought that this book was boring? It was a real struggle to get through it. If there was a plot line, it was a flimsy one. This is one book that won't grab you after the first few pages. It didn't grab me after 280 pages. The odd triplet makes herself the victim and just seems to me to be self centered. She comes across as an angry woman for no reason whatsoever. If there was a half star rating I would have given that for this book. The author skips from the present to the past from one sentence to the other. Half the time I didn't know in which time period she was speaking about. Trust me, save yourself the aggravation and read another book from your list of must reads.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My take: The story is an interesting one because it is ultimately about the internal struggle of wanting to belong yet fighting for individuation. I wasn't as much interested in the family conflict as the family dynamics and the way Clementine goes about looking for her other half, as Odette and Olivia have one another.

The story is based upon a set of triplets, now 29 years old. Olivia and Odette are identifical twins while Clementine's egg just happened to fall down the fallopian tube the same month. Clementine always feels like the odd man out, although she shares the uncanny ability to hear her sisters' thoughts and read their moods the same as being identical. They have their private jokes and party tricks and they are definitely related. However, Clementine's rhythm is just a little different. While the twins move into medical school and open adjoining practices, Clementine is still struggling with her own identity. The twins have a double wedding and find themselves pregnant and expecting at the same time. Clementine is still single and fighting sorrow over a loss and figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up.

The family is in crisis. One triplet knows a secret. The other two want to know the secret. The mother is blissfully and purposely ignoring the truth and concentrating on anything else. This is the way she lives her life or at least used to. With Charles Lord no longer lording over the home as his house of cards comes tumbling down, new dynamics emerge due partly to the crisis but also to the new roles the women are entering; mother (the twins), favorite aunt (Clementine), broken man, stronger woman, lost love, found love.

What I particularly enjoyed about the book is the way each character is looking for their "other half." Clementine chooses a college different from her sisters' choice in an effort to differentiate herself yet she yearns to be a part of something bigger. She is immediately taken by a boy named Cameron who, ironically, smells of oranges (Clementine - get it?).

In retrospect, the orphan sister could be any of the characters, as each of them have moments of solitude and feeling cut off from the family. Conversely, each character finds a connection at one time or another.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that there are periods in our lives when we all may feel out of step with our siblings and/or family. We simply feel as if we don't fit in for some reason. This appears to be the underlying theme of The Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross.

Clementine Lord feels out-of-step with her sisters, even though she is a triplet. It doesn't help that they are identical twins and she is simply the "sister." Or at least that how it feels to her at times. Clem's sisters are high achievers and have beautiful names, Odette and Olivia. Their mother's name is Octavia so of course Clem feel's left out with something as simple as just her name. The twins were accepted to Harvard and went to medical school, ultimately specializing in obstetrics and pediatrics. They got married at the same time and even had their children within days of one another. Clem fell in love first but her boyfriend died during college. As a result of his death, it took Clem three years to complete her final year of college. She's unsure of what she wants to do with her life but thinks she wants to become a vet...which is as close to medicine as she'll get.

Clem loves her sisters, as well as her mother and father but she just feels that there's something that puts her out of sync with the rest. All three sisters desperately want the approval of their father, and seem to subconsciously compete for that approval. Just when Clem is starting to feel comfortable with her life and where its heading her father disappears. Then it is revealed that he had another wife. The drama quotient is upped tremendously by this news. Clem is at first worried about her father's absence and then just pissed that he would leave and remain incommunicado.

Ms. Gross has provided characters that are recognizable and likable because of their faults and blemishes. The Orphan Sister is a delightful story about learning to like your family not just love them and about accepting our individual differences.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Orphan Sister is supposed to be a book about a set of triplets, Clementine, Odette, and Olivia. Odette and Olivia are identical with Clementine being the lone sister out. Their father is a pediatric neurologist who one day goes missing. One of the triplets knows about her father's secrets but won't tell the other two, and Clementine makes it her mission to discover it.

The characters were very one dimensional. There was absolutely no depth to the characters. The twist in plots were not very twisty or surprising.

**Spoiler alert***
So, the father was married when he was younger to the love of his life and his family forces him to leave his new wife. His family claimed to take care of the legal aspect of the marriage and have it annulled. He finds out later (After the birth of his triplets) that he is still married to his original wife and they share a daughter together. So, he spends his time bouncing between the two families to spend time with each of his children. That is where this book starts, when his original wife dies and he has to disappear to take care of those legal matters. The current wife and mother of the triplets apparently knows this secret, but it hasn't bothered her until the triplets discover it.
****spoiler alert off****

Really?! This story is so convoluted it had me scratching my head and saying WTF? It left more questions than answers. I ended up hating the triplets instead of where my hatred/disgust was supposed to go, to the father.

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a difficult time with the beginning of this book. At page 60 I put the book down and didn't think I would bother to finish it. I decided to give it another shot, and by the middle of the book when I finally got to find out a little more about what daddy's issue was, I could pay more attention to the character development and storyline. I was disappointed with both by the end of the book.

I didn't care for Clem or her sisters Odette and Olivia. As a matter of fact, I didn't care for their mother or father either. They all seemed whiny and unrealistic. Keeping that in mind, I really just didn't care what else happened in the story to any or them. The powerful and privileged have some problems. Too bad.

I was often distracted by the emotional reactions of the sisters which seemed disjointed. The big secret was a big let-down only because the author created such a big build up to it.

I would be more inclined to be engrossed in Clem's past and then be forced back to the present where I didn't want to be.

This book was "OK" but I struggled to be interested in the story.

[Diana Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a long and tedious read about a set of triplets and their spoiled existence. I finished the book waiting for something to happen... Something exciting or dramatic but nothing happened. It's just their everyday lives and their whiny perspective of their parents. It's not horrible, but it is a little boring.

[Roxanne McAllister]

Boring, could not get into this story. Character names were to start with.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Interesting twists and turns. Enjoyed learning about twins/triplets.

[Emily Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://em-and-emm.blogspot.com/2011/0...

Every now and then, you read a book where nothing much really happens, but the book is still completely engrossing and enjoyable to read. This is one of those books. Clementine Lord is one daughter in a set of triplets. Through a strange quirk, her two sisters are identical, while Clementine is fraternal. Although she shares a strong bond with her sisters Olivia and Odette, Clementine has always felt like something of an outsider. The three daughters grew up with a famous pediatric neurosurgeon for a father, and a picture-perfect housewife for a mother. Olivia and Odette went on to Harvard and had successful medical careers, both marrying high-achieving husbands and becoming pregnant at the same time. Clementine barely finishes college and floats through her 20s with little direction. One day, Clementine's father fails to show up for work, triggering a family crisis where Olivia has discovered a terrible secret about their father, Odette just wants him to come home, and Clementine is caught between rage and pity. In order to cope with her father's disappearance and betrayal, her sisters' advanced pregnancies, her mother's vacancy, and her friend Eli's romantic interest, Clementine retraces the events of her life to understand the place where she is today.

As a work of general fiction, this book is somewhat outside of my normal range of interests. I'm really glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone, though, because this turned out to be a really interesting read. Gwendolen Gross' writing style is such that Clementine's inner thoughts feel so real that you might think they're your own thoughts, and every now and then I found a passage that was so eloquently phrased I had to stop and think about it for a little while. Despite the fact that there aren't many big events in the book, the excellent writing propels the book forward.

In terms of plot, it's a pretty slow moving book, with most of the focus being characterization and the complex ties between each individual. The eventual revelation of their father's secret turns out to be kind of a let-down (with all of the build up, I was expecting something more earth shattering), but since the book is about relationships and not about the betrayal itself, that's not a big issue.

The entire book is told in two separate time periods: the present, where Clementine and her sisters are dealing with the fallout of their father's disappearance and his secrets, and the past, where Clementine relives parts of her childhood and her college years. Most of the events in the past were chosen because of personal significance to Clementine, like falling in love with a boy named Cameron in college and Cameron's sudden accidental death, meeting her friend Eli, moving to San Francisco in an effort to get her life back on track. Since we see everything in a first-person view from Clementine's perspective, it's very easy for the reader to feel like Clementine is a real person. Though she is no doubt a flawed person, she's a very sympathetic character to read about because Gross' writing allows the reader to feel everything Clementine feels, her love for Cameron and her all-consuming despair after his death, her rage at her father and her complicated relationships with her two sisters. Gross does a nice job of describing the ties between the sisters, and the story is wrapped up in a way that gives the reader some resolution, without having the ending feel overly cute and sentimental or overly depressing.


The relationships Clementine has with Odette and Olivia are some of the most important parts of the book, and are more complicated than the title would lead you to believe; Clementine knows Odette and Olivia just as well as they know each other, and although the two Os are identical to each other, each turns to Clementine first for different things. The interesting thing about the title The Orphan Sister is that while it seems to apply only to Clementine, it could easily to apply the title to either Odette or Olivia at various points, or even to other characters.

Recommended reading for lovers of general fiction, but not if you only like plot-driven books.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

At First Sight: Clementine Lord has always felt a little like the odd one out in her family. She's one of a set of triplets, only that her other two sisters are identical while she's only a fraternal twin; and though she has a strong connection to her sisters Odette and Olivia, that connection is not as strong as the one they have with each other.

Odette and Olivia both followed in their father's footsteps and became doctors - and winners of the parental approval - while Clementine is just now trying to get into Veterinarian school.

But one day, their father goes missing, which forces the family dynamics to change, as they uncover a big secret of their father's past.

Second Glance: I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but it seemed like an interesting premise. And in some ways it was an interesting book. We get a glimpse at the comings and goings of the Lord family. Mom is distant and absent, Dad is a controlling freak; and the girls, while close, have their own problems.

I liked the connection between the three sisters, over all. Some parts rang true to me and some didn't - I have a large, mostly female family, so I get sisterhood. But I'm sad to say that I found Clementine a bit boring. Not to mention that the there are a series of flashbacks through out the book, and at times it was confusing to follow who was talking and if it was the present or the past.

And I didn't care at all for the Mom or the Dad, they were both kind of cartoonish.

Bottom Line: Sadly, The Orphan Sister was not a book for me. I felt like Clementine thought a lot but did very little most of the time, and I had a hard time liking her.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars


Clementine Lord is not an orphan. She is, however, the fraternal triplet to identicals Olivia and Odette. She alternately longs for and shuns the closeness of O&O, who followed their father to Harvard and became doctors like him, in Siamese twin offices as an OB and a pediatrician. And they're both pregnant. Clem lives in her parents' guest house, is finishing grad school and thinks about becoming a veterinarian. When their father goes missing, Clem wants answers.
Narrator Clementine has a delightful voice tinged with a streak of subtle , sarcastic humor that's neither biting nor mean. The story alternates between the present--her missing father--and the past her development as the non identical triplet, to her first love. At times I wished for more interaction between the triplets and a greater distinction between between Odette and Olivia, because the triplet dynamic was what drew me to the story. I wished for more insight into their mother.
THE ORPHAN SISTER is more character study than mystery, but Clem is such a complex, likable character I almost didn't mind the lack of real payoff to the mystery.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's about Clementine and her sisters Odette and Olivia. They are triplets but the two O's are from the same egg so they are identical and Clementine is not. Clementine is connected to them as twins would be yet she is separate and she feels separate from them hence the title of the book. This book bounces back and forth from present time to history and gives a background along the way of why things are happening to the family. Like any family, they have their secrets and their dysfunctions. This is a beautifully written book and Clemetine is a very strong person as are her sisters. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Orphan Sister is a fantastic novel about family dynamics. A family is gripped in the middle of a family crisis and we get to see it all unfold. I really liked Clementine and I hated to see how hurt she was by her father. Triplets are unique enough that the book could have only dealt with their relationship and it would have been a good book to read. Throw in the unusual circumstances their father has thrown them into and you have the makings of a fantastic novel.

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a bit plodding for a few chapters in the middle, I really enjoyed this story of triplet sisters who learn their father has been harboring a secret all of their lives. The secret itself is in the backdrop though, and the best parts of the novel revolve around the tender and intuitive relationships between the three sisters and around narrator Clementine's devastating loss of her first love. Definitely recommend.

[Margaret]

This book is really good!

[Delvia Alsina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent read. I had never heard of this type of triplets, but it sure got my attention. I recommend this book highly.

[Louise Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually don’t give up on books partway through, so I started reading all the reviews. Apparently the ending is unsatisfying and as boring as the rest of the story. So then I did give up, with no regrets. I totally agree with most reviews regarding the past/present timeline. That was very confusing! And who cares so much about the past? There really is no “development” of the characters, no matter how much we are told about them and no character is very likeable anyway, in this novel. It just goes on and on ad nauseum. So many books…so little time. Don’t waste your time on this one.

[CATHY · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt like took more than a month for completion of this particular book. Was, minimally, at the midpoint when I was slowly sensing it was taking off.
Unsure if I recommend this book to anyone who is a slow reader. Because, like myself, I almost forfeited reading this book.
Shows to me what matters most in life and that is those that are around you, need you, and want to be with you. The rest is secondary and not mattering when life is full of silly named 🌺🌻🌼🌸

[Sally Andrews · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a solid DNF for me. I really wanted to say DNR because I dang well NEED to be resuscitated after 111 pages of NOTHING HAPPENING. So Dad was married before and maybe even had kids and didn't tell anyone. My first question is Why Not? and my second question is Who Cares? This one is going to 2nd and Charles for resale. Just not worth the hours I spent slogging to page 111. I won't invest any more time. My everyday life holds more excitement than this snoozer. Moving along.

[Debbie Beeny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was pumped up for this book & wondered what did Clemintine's dad do that was so devastating to the family. He was a pediatric surgeon so I expected the dad did horrible things during his many surgeries. No. Nothing close to that. He simply had a second family out of town. What a total let down, no climax here. Plus the author did a lot of chit chat throughout.

[Michele Goldberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about triplets where 2 of them are very close and the third feels left out. It’s the first book that I found very boring. It was very predictable and nothing over the top happened at all in the book. The end was a total disappointment.

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written and had an interesting premise. I really disappointed at the uninteresting way the story unraveled. The family secret was met with very little reaction. The only significant character development happened after the main story was finished. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Brenda Pace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read - enjoyed but not raving about.

[Maribeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kept my attention, enough curves in the plot that I did't predict the end until maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through. Issues and emotions which the narrator grappled with felt realistic.

[Jill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, great read on my snow day!

[Jennifer Barthelemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When to the past too many times. Not thrilling.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn’t worth one star - just a dull read.

[Ruth Theis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the book and hated it

The book kept me reading, but I was bored in parts. I thought it was a little off the wall

[Judith scaglione · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book. we are reading it for my book club but I was was wondering if you have a list of thought provoking questions I can ask my gils about this book

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A family is rocked by secrets hidden by their father. The protagonist struggles with being the triplet sister of identical twins.