SOLVED. Fiction: Three Sisters, Grew Up in Abbey, Gypsy Neighbor Tells Fortunes, Time Shifts Past/Present. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Chantel]

I'm really into fiction that has catholic/gothic elements to it, and in early 2016 read a great book about three sisters who grew up in a rural abbey. I believe it takes place in the UK, and I think the author is a woman. The narration shifts from the past (maybe the 1960s?) to what feels like present day.

In the "past,” the youngest sister sees the "ghosts" of the former nuns that lived there and the novel is anchored by a tragic event surrounding her fall from a window. The oldest sister (I believe her name was Julia) is visiting home from university. There is a neighbor who lives with his father (who I believe is the other family’s groundskeeper? Or a local farmer?) and grandmother, who's a gypsy. He's ashamed of his family's lack of wealth or connection. This neighbor is in love with the middle sister, believing the oldest and most beautiful sister to be stuck up. However, he holds a strange fascination with the oldest sister and at one point they have an intimate encounter in a priest hole. At some point, the three sisters go to visit the neighbor’s grandmother who reads their fortunes. She seems concerned but then gives them all a glossed over version, telling the youngest “roses for you all the way.” I recall the mother loves to cook and might have hosted a school out of their house. Also, some other dude was also visiting at the time of the younger sister’s fall and he later becomes the oldest’ husband. He might have been an artist… or medical student… yeah, I don’t really remember much about him.

In the future, the neighbor becomes professionally successful (in film industry?) but his personal life is a mess. The oldest sister is a Martha-Stewart-like public figure. I believe the middle sister went into academics…. or maybe she was the artist? In either case, she is diagnosed with cancer and the oldest sister discovers that her husband has been having a years-long affair with her and that they had a child together who died. The youngest sister is in a care facility and does not seem to understand what is happening around her. The neighbor is still pining away for the middle sister but re-connects with the oldest and in the end sacrifices himself to protect her and her son from a mugging.

That’s all I can really recall. (and some of the details might be incorrect). Any help discovering the title and/or author would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

[Mai]

The Sisters Mortland by Sally Beauman? Found via Google search; sounds like your book!

Reader description:
The Sisters Mortland is the story of, what else, three sisters, living in an abandoned English abbey. There is Julia, the gorgeous, sexy eldest daughter with a wild streak; Finn, the bookish middle sister with the most level personality and mind; and Maisie, the youngest, who is quiet, has a mild mental disorder from a childhood accident, and can see the ghosts of the nuns who still haunt the abbey.

[Chantel]

This is it, Mai! Thank you so much!