"This book echoes the real-life relationship between the author and her sister, who herself once weighed 531 pounds before her life-changing bariatric surgery…
Readers will be eager for more from this debut author." —BOOKLIST"Insightful and empathetic...a solid entry for titles with plus-sized heroines"—Library Journal
Sourcebooks Landmark is excited to publish THE SISTERS WE WERE by Wendy Willis Baldwin (January 2023, Trade Paperback Original, $16.99). Inspired by the real-life experience of the author and her sister, the novel follows two estranged sisters on their complicated yet ultimately triumphant journey toward futures of their own designs. A cinematic tale of sisterhood and hope, THE SISTERS WE WERE is an uplifting and powerful story about two women taking their lives into their own hands.
When Pearl was just a kid, her mother was imprisoned for manslaughter. Her “perfect” sister, Ruby, grew up and left Pearl behind, fleeing to a new city and recreating herself. Now, still living in the childhood home in which her mother committed the crime, Pearl is struggling with her weight—a frustrating daily obstacle that becomes a life-threatening diagnosis—and she commits to bariatric surgery. Surprisingly, Ruby agrees to return and help Pearl during the recovery period. While Pearl thought losing the weight would be the key to her new life, she begins to realize she will never be able to step into her future if she and her sister can’t reconnect and work together to put past trauma behind them.
For fans of The Chicken Sisters comes THE SISTERS WE WERE, a novel that is funny, hopeful, and bursting with heart. As the author’s sister Tiffany describes it, “What I can tell you is that the flawed but fierce sister bond between Pearl and Ruby is a beautiful example of art imitating life.”
The Sisters We Were is WENDY WILLIS BANDWIN’S debut novel. Together, she and her sister host the Life After Fat Pants Podcast. A native of Texas, Baldwin now lives on a farm in New Hampshire with her husband, her dogs, and thousands of honeybees.
