Keepsake

by Kristina Riggle

Overview

“This story of two sisters, each broken in her own way, is as unflinching as it is compassionate. I was pulled in from the first page.”
—Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Falling Together

For her previous novels (Things We Didn’t Say, The Life You’ve Imagined, Real Life & Liars), author Kristina Riggle has garnered fabulous reviews and established herself as a rapidly rising star of contemporary women’s fiction. In Keepsake, she explores that most complicated of relationships, as two sisters raised by a hoarder deal with old hurts and resentments, and the very different paths their lives have taken. As always, Riggle approaches important topics poignantly and honestly—including hoarding and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in her remarkable Keepsake—while writing with real emotional power and compassion about families and their baggage. For readers of Katrina Kittle and Elin Hildenbrand, Kristina Riggle’s Keepsake is a treasure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062003072
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/26/2012
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kristina Riggle is a published short story writer and coeditor for fiction at the e-zine Literary Mama. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, two kids, and dog.

What People are Saying About This

Marisa de los Santos

“This story of two sisters...is as unflinching as it is compassionate. I was pulled in from the first page, as Trish and Mary reckon with the devastations of loss and the bonds of family, and as they make their hard, brave, often funny journeys toward hope and wholeness.”

Denise Taylor

“A seemingly celebratory gathering brings joy, frustration, love and disappointment to a midwestern family in this wonderful debut novel. These are characters we know and care about from our own lives.”

Meg Waite Clayton

“Kristina Riggle addresses the difficult turf of the hoarder with compassion and understanding. With its contrasting sisters-one unable to let go of things, the other unable to allow clutter into her life-Keepsake immerses us in the complicated world of family and love.”

Melissa Senate

“Backed by Riggle’s trademark unflinching honesty and imbued with heart and hope, The Life You’ve Imagined is a terrific novel about love and loss, letting go and holding on. A book to share with family and friends—I loved it.”

Editorial Reviews

In Riggle’s touching and timely latest (after Things We Didn’t Say), Trish is a divorced mother struggling to raise two sons, the elder of whom, teenager Drew, flees his mother’s house because of her obsessive hoarding. When younger son Jack is injured in the cluttered home, a concerned social worker gives Trish a wakeup call and chilling ultimatum: clean up or lose your son. This spurs Drew to reach out to Mary, Trish’s estranged sister, for help. Mary and Trish’s mother had a hoarding problem as well, and Mary reacted by obsessing over the cleanliness of her house. Mary reluctantly goes to Trish’s aid, but she quickly realizes that the job is more than she can handle, so Mary enlists college friend (and psychologist) Seth to help. As the trio move through the strata of Trish’s material life and fraught emotional past, the women struggle to come to terms with their mother’s behavior and the stark differences in their responses, and try to remember that they are cleaning house for the sake of the next generation. Agent: Kristin Nelson. (June)

Publishers Weekly

...this delectable read is both irresistible and fulfilling...hope-filled, honest and remarkably raw tour-de-force. Things We Didn’t Say is a beautiful account of modern family that resonates, restores and charms.

examiner.com

An entertaining, challenging story with the potential to change us if we let it.

Grand Rapids Press

This story of two sisters...is as unflinching as it is compassionate. I was pulled in from the first page, as Trish and Mary reckon with the devastations of loss and the bonds of family, and as they make their hard, brave, often funny journeys toward hope and wholeness.

Marisa de los Santos

Backed by Riggle’s trademark unflinching honesty and imbued with heart and hope, The Life You’ve Imagined is a terrific novel about love and loss, letting go and holding on. A book to share with family and friends—I loved it.

Melissa Senate

A seemingly celebratory gathering brings joy, frustration, love and disappointment to a midwestern family in this wonderful debut novel. These are characters we know and care about from our own lives.

Denise Taylor

Kristina Riggle addresses the difficult turf of the hoarder with compassion and understanding. With its contrasting sisters-one unable to let go of things, the other unable to allow clutter into her life-Keepsake immerses us in the complicated world of family and love.

Meg Waite Clayton

Riggle crafts a moving and accomplished first novel about a family coming to terms with change. The characters are familiar but not stereotypical, and the quaint setting of Charlevoix, Michigan, a beachfront town, adds to the nostalgic feel.

Booklist on Real Life & Liars