A grieving gangster writes to his still-born twin. Two fathers go seeking their sons.
(Entered for the 2000 Booker Prize)
His wife and youngest children killed in a bomb attack, this gangster becomes a grief counsellor. At the same time two teenage boys fail to come home. Their fathers suspect that they have broken into the gangster's woodland garden.
Excerpt
Dear Sister Clare,
They suggested that I write to you. What, though, to say to someone dead? What to say to someone who's never been truly alive?
I know, if I keep trying, I'll warm to it. Right now, though, I can't think of a thing to write. Or I can - I can think of lots - but not a starting point.
Ironical this, in light of my recent profession, that I should be in need of this kind of help. My kind of help. Being a provider of that kind of help I am, of course, beyond that kind of help, beyond my kind of help. Which is why I'm writing to you - you don't exist - I can therefore neither read nor feed your reactions.
So here I am, this time, dear sister Clare...
Professional Reviews
Zene Magazine
'Reading... Sister Blister is akin to driving ninety miles an hour on ice... All in all, Sam Smith has written an entertaining and wonderfully readable book. From the depths of the twisted and deadly criminal mind to the foolishness and simplicity of people who do not understand what they are up against, (in life in general or otherwise) Sister Blister portrays people as, in too many cases, they really are.'
Wayne Lanter
Yolanda Carter dreams of owning her own bakery. Employed at a cat shelter, she stumbles across a scheme that threatens to close it down. Will her delicious brownies save them?
