Product Description

Shae-Lynn Penrose drives a cab in a town where no one needs a cab—but plenty of people need rides. A former police officer with a closet full of miniskirts, a recklessly sharp tongue, and a tendency to deal with men by either beating them up or taking them to bed, she has spent years carving out a life for herself and her son in Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, the tiny coal-mining town where she grew up.

Two years ago, five of Shae-Lynn’s miner friends were catapulted to media stardom when they were rescued after surviving four days trapped in a mine. As the men struggle to come to terms with the nightmarish memories of their ordeal, along with the fallout of their short- lived celebrity, Shae-Lynn finds herself facing harsh realities and reliving bad dreams of her own, including her relationship with her brutal father, her conflicted passion for one of the miners, and the hidden identity of the man who fathered her son.

When the younger sister she thought was dead arrives on her doorstep, followed closely by a gun-wielding Russian gangster, a shady New York lawyer, and a desperate Connecticut housewife, Shae-Lynn is forced to grapple with the horrible truth she discovers about the life her sister’s been living, and with one ominous question: Will her return result in a monstrous act of greed or one of sacrifice?

Tawni O’Dell’s trademark blend of black humor, tenderness, and a keen sense of place is evident once again as Shae-Lynn takes on past demons and all-too-present dangers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #365527 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-13
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. O'Dell, whose debut, Back Roads (2000), was an Oprah pick, returns with a terrific third novel set in a Pennsylvania coal country of broken families, altercations and smalltown coping. Policewoman-turned-cabbie Shae-Lynn Penrose, a little over 40 and back in Jolly Mount after a rent-a-cop stint in Washington, D.C., raised son Clay (24 and the town deputy) on her own. For the past 18 years, she has believed that her sister, Shannon, was killed by their abusive father while Shae-Lynn was at college. (Their mother died of complications after giving birth to Shannon; their father was killed much later in a mine explosion.) When a New York lawyer turns up asking for Shannon Penrose, whom he seems to have seen recently, Shae-Lynn is shocked; when Shannon herself suddenly turns up, very pregnant, Shae-Lynn's reaction is primal and tactile. As O'Dell slowly unspools Shannon's very-much-of-her-own-doing predicament, O'Dell demonstrates her mastery of set-piece dialogue, reeling off stingingly acute encounters that are as funny as they can be crushingly sad. Ne'er-do-well Choker Simms (and his two kids, Fanci and Kenny), lawyer Gerald Kozlowski, mine owner Cam Jack, Shae-Lynn's nonboyfriend E.J., Shannon's sort-of-boyfriend Dmitri and others are all wonderfully drawn through Shae-Lynn's keen observations. Family saga O'Dell-style crackles with conflict and a deep understanding of the complications and burdens that follow attachment, sex, love and kinship. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
No one dissects a tangled web of relationships like Tawni ODell. And no one can bring alive a group of varied players like the throaty, feisty Rene Raudman. Forty-year-old ex-cop Shae-Lynn Penrose returns to her hometown of Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, to drive a cab and care for her son, Caleb. She thinks shes escaped her brutal childhood, but her nightmares return when her younger sister shows up and gives birth to a baby she plans to sell. Complicating the problem is the sisters Russian lover, a baby broker, and the sudden confession of the towns richest businessman, who is Calebs heretofore unknown father. Its all a bit of a soap opera, but listeners can look forward to a feel-good ending. M.T.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Past the wordplay of the title and the cowboy boot on the jacket, this is a masterfully unfolded, absolutely engrossing story as smart and sassy as it is wise. At 40, Shae-Lynn Penrose has overcome a mostly motherless, abusive childhood and a teenage pregnancy to finish college, work for the D.C. Capitol Police, raise her son alone, and return to her coal-mining hometown of Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania. Here she runs a one-vehicle cab company; her father died in a mine; her best friend, E. J., was one of the Jolly Mount 5, whose survival after a mine explosion made headlines; and her son, Clay, is a deputy for Sheriff Ivan Zoschenko (from O'Dell'sCoal Run, 2004). Then Shannon, the younger sister Shae-Lynn thought long dead, shows up and reveals an unorthodox means of making money that's causing a ruckus. Dealing with a burgeoning love affair and revelation of parentage, plus the surviving miners' intent to sue the coal company, O'Dell also examines such issues as abuse, betrayal, abandonment, perseverance, and reconciliation, with love at the heart of it all, in crisp, insightful prose that sweeps the reader along. A knockout. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Shae-Lynn the soldier, And I was one of your missions"
Shae-Lynn, the sassy protagonist of Tawni O'Dell's new novel Sister Mine is a victim of child abuse and she seems to carry the remnants of this with her, her childhood and also her adulthood defined by the life she spent with a mean, drunken and abusive coal miner father, were she felt obligated to endure his endless beatings and who seemed determined to strip away her value as a human.

While Shae-Lynn considered it "part of our hereditary lot in life, " her younger sister, Shannon flew the coop years ago and hasn't been heard from since. Shannon, who was full of a sort of generalized contempt in her ability to not care about anything, has ended up becoming the bane of Shae-Lynn's life; after all, it never occurred to her that her sister would run away with the intention of never seeing any of them again.

Now a cab driver, after working for years as a cop, we first meet Shae-Lynn as she's beginning a new phase of her life, fresh from the jolt of realizing her grown son Clay is no longer dependent on her. True to her nature, Shae-Lynne doesn't eschew the traditional role of a woman, and for the first time in her life she's somewhat relieved she has no financial obligations other than funding her own existence, the major worries of motherhood now well and truly behind her.

Through Shae-Lynn's tough, worldly perspective, author Tawni O'Dell explores what it means to grow up and survive in a town like Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania as she weaves Shae-Lynn's story into the experiences of the Jolly Mount Five, a group of men who have survived a terrible coal mining disaster a few years ago and then went on to bask in fleeting fame.

Shae-Lynn's heart indeed goes out to all the men and they're constantly on her mind; there's Dusty, desperate for money since his restaurant went belly-up, and Ray who has a family and needs money too, and then there's Lib who is determined to go through with a class action law suit to get hold of the some of the millions of dollars that the evil mine owner, Cam jack has invested.

But Shae-Lynn is mostly drawn to the hunky laborer E.J., friends since childhood, she views E.J in a slightly different light and she's been attracted to this young man for years and wants to help him conquer his panic attacks, a result of the four days trapped down the mine.

Suddenly, a rich woman from Connecticut turns up looking for Shannon, accusing her of stealing her baby, and then a lawyer from New York appears intent on a similar agenda. When Shannon herself appears, reduced to a desperate sentimental wreck and pregnant, straight away she falls into the arms of her big sister.

Although Shae-Lynn is overjoyed to see her, she doesn't for a minute buy her sob story, certain that she's done a good job of dressing the part of the poor, out-of-work unwed mother only for appearances sake. Shae-Lynn's suspicions are confirmed when she spies Shannon's expensive handbag containing a Sony cell phone and a costly I pod. Shannon would never have been able to afford these on her own.

In reality, Shannon is a narcissist writ large, a manipulative diva who has discovered the business if selling babies for cash. She's also desperate and in her hour of need hopes that Shae-Lynn will let bygones by bygones and take her in. Whilst, O'Dell keeps her outlandish plot moving along at a brisk enough pace, she once again, proves that she has an amazing grasp of the lives, loves, hopes and disappointments of her beloved Pennsylvanian coal mining community.

All of her characters are always fully fleshed and believable, existing in a world where life is constantly tough, harsh and expensive. She especially excels at describing this hardscrabble existence of the J&P miners as some of the toughest and most self-possessed men on the planet who can handle any physical discomfort and endure any abuse.

But in the end, this is definitely the sexy Shae-Lynn's story and even though her "childhood might have survived into adulthood," she's still a rare breed who realizes that life is probably just a "bunch of confusing, and painful stuff that fills up the time between your favorite TV shows." She readily admits that although once in Washington she'd been exposed to the finer things in life; her home is definitely where her working class roots are.

Sister Mine is very much a sardonic look at all of Shae-Lynn's disappointments and rewards and the author beautifully captures the spirit of Shae-Lynn's compulsive rush into sex and family, and in her efforts to protect and to serve, "it's what she's continued to do throughout her life." O'Dell never shies away from disclosing Shae-Lynn's secrets and uncertainties, as she learns how to survive living in blue collar Jolly Mount, a town somewhat entrenched in life's old hard habits. Mike Leonard April 07.

A VOICE OF HONEY WITH A DASH OF VODKA


Readers of Back Roads (an Oprah pick) and Coal Run well know that Tawni O'Dell is an author who grabs you from the get-go and doesn't let go until the final word. She does it again with Sister Mine. Who could stop listening after hearing: "I drive a cab in a town where no one needs a cab but plenty of people need rides. I've been paid with casseroles, lip gloss, plumbing advice, beer, prayers for my immortal soul, and promises to mow my yard, but this is the first time I've ever been offered something living."

Those words are spoken by Shae-Lynn Penrose, a former Washington, D.C. police woman who has returned to the town where she grew up - not easily, we might add. She was a young single mother who had to care for an infant, protect herself from an abusive father, and tend to an arbitrary sister, Shannon. Now, she's 40 and back in Jolly Mount, a dot on the map in Pennsylvania coal country.

When Shae-Lynn left Jolly Mount for Washington she had all she could do to look after her son. There was no choice but to leave Shannon with their father. Two years later the girl disappeared. At this point in time, so many years later, Shae-Lynn believes her sister is dead - that is until she reappears. Shannon is 18 years older, quite pregnant, and being pursued by a motley group including a Russian thug, a lawyer, and an eastern housewife.

Without the reappearance of her younger sister and the retinue she brings, Shae-Lynn already has a lot on her plate. Some two years earlier five of her miner friends had been trapped below ground for four days. Although time has past the effects of this near tragedy have not. Then, of course, there's a love interest - or is there?

Tawni O'Dell tells a great story with a cast headed by a spunky pink Stetson wearing heroine. Don't miss it - especially as read by actress Renee Raudman who has been identified as "A voice of honey with a dash of vodka" - quite so. Her voice can tend to huskiness, very pleasantly, and she gives Shae-Lynn the voice of one who has seen everything, is tough yet gentle. Good listening!

- Gail Cooke