All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila’s sister—until the day Lila, a top math student at Stanford, was murdered, and the shape of their family changed forever. Twenty years later, Ellie is a professional coffee buyer who has never put down roots. When, in a chance meeting, she comes into possession of the notebook that Lila carried everywhere, Ellie returns home to finally discover the truth about her sister’s death—a search that will lead her to Lila’s secret lover, to the motives and fate of a man who profited from their family’s grief, and ultimately to the deepest secrets even sisters keep from each other. From the bestselling author of The Year of Fog (“Highly recommended [for fans of] authors like Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard.”—Library Journal [starred review]), this is a riveting family drama about loss, love, and the way hope redefines our lives—a novel at once heartbreaking, provocative, and impossible to put down.

Publishers Weekly

Richmond (The Year of Fog) returns to San Francisco for another enjoyable blend of mystery and domestic fiction. Twenty years ago, Ellie Enderlin’s sister, Lila, a mathematical prodigy, was murdered, and Andrew Thorpe, Ellie’s English professor and a friend, exploited the family’s grief with a true-crime bestseller that claimed Peter McConnell, Lila’s married lover and colleague, was the killer. On a coffee-buying trip to Nicaragua, Ellie encounters McConnell, whose life was destroyed by Thorpe’s conjecture. Sparked by this meeting, Ellie traces her way back through Lila’s life and work, pursuing leads that the manipulative Thorpe abandoned when they did not fit his literary ambitions. Though many of Ellie’s suspects lead her to dead ends, each gives her greater understanding of her sister, of mathematics and of herself. When she finally discovers the truth, Ellie’s clarity about the past brings her new hope for the future. Vivid descriptions and loving explanations of the city and intelligent forays into the sciences of coffee and mathematics enhance Richmond’s quietly captivating novel. (June)

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Publish Date : 2009-05-19