Lisa Tucker: The Promised World

Lisa Tucker's new novel, The Promised World, is a stunning look at the lives of a brother and sister -fraternal twins- who share a secret life. Billy Cole's very public death is reported on page one: "While millions of people watched her brother die, Lila sat in her quiet office at the university, working on a paper about Herman Melville's later years."
Generally, when a character dies on page one, the author has to work to bring that character back to life for me. Not this time. Billy is quite alive and vibrant throughout, and Lila's struggle to understand their life is just beginning. She has "lost the plot" of their story, and must remember what Billy worked so hard to make her forget to save her sanity and Billy's children.
Lisa Tucker has now inserted five books into my mind and heart for all time. From The Song Reader to Cure for the Modern Life I could only imagine how she would touch me with this latest novel. Given two engrossing characters, a powerful story of a life, one might think there could be no room for more, but Tucker adds Lila's husband Patrick, Billy's estranged wife and children, and I have a book I can't put down.