Call the Canaries Home: A Novel

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 37,582 ratings

Price: 2.49

Last update: 07-17-2024


About this item

Three estranged sisters reconnect in their Louisiana hometown to face an unresolved past in a heartfelt novel about family, grief, secrets, and forgiveness.

Savannah was four years old when her twin sister, Georgia, went missing from their small Louisiana town, fracturing their family. Twenty-eight years later, Savannah convinces her estranged older sisters, Rayanne and Sue Ellen, to honor the pact they made as children and retrieve the time capsule they buried in their old backyard. But coming home means confronting old ghosts…and their stubborn grandmother, Meemaw.

Sifting through the artifacts, they come across a photograph taken on the day Georgia disappeared and spot a familiar woman lingering in the background. While Sue Ellen and Rayanne want to move on with their lives, Savannah is determined to find the woman—and perhaps a clue to the past.

When old tensions, rivalries, and memories resurface, the sisters must reconsider what they thought they knew about that fateful day, about each other, and about themselves. On their search to uncover what happened to Georgia, each of them will discover what Meemaw has known all along: family is everything.


From the Publisher

Quote from Rochelle B. Weinstein, bestselling author of When We Let Go

Top reviews from the United States

LazyMornin
5.0 out of 5 stars a memorable story. well done!
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2024
The writing is great! At first, I thought it was going to be a boring story, kinda slow moving. Everyone bickering. As with most broken lives, healing is an on-going process. The author is a great storyteller and this will be one of the more memorable books I’ve read this year. The characters are ‘real’ and the descriptive passages are beautifully done. I look forward to more from this author.
Mary
4.0 out of 5 stars 4 charming stars for this small town novel.
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023
It’s impossible not to love a story with a main character grandmother named Meemaw!

A family mystery is at the center of the story and the plot moves forward with the scattering narrative of the past timeline throughout. It was a bit confusing to keep track of the various POV’s each chapter is being told from. The pace starts slow but picks and stays steady and consistent as it revealed important pieces of the family history, while tying into the present day storyline.

This story is centered around sisterhood and this aspect was done extremely well. The family dynamics were messy, multilayered and full of heart. I found myself immersed within the sisters relationships and secrets, rooting for them to get the answers they were searching for.

Much of the family’s story happened before the reader meets the characters and through these past timeline perspectives, the weight of those pieces of history shine through, adding depth to the story and creating an emotional connection to the characters.

I thought I knew for sure where the mystery at the heart of the story was leading, but I was wrong, and, without adding spoilers, I’ll say that I’m still processing the direction it ended up taking, and the myriad emotions it conjured.

The perfect read when I needed a break from my police/crime dramas.
M P
5.0 out of 5 stars Calling all canaries
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2023
Marylynn Pritchett – aka Meemaw, is a force to be reckoned with! Easily my favorite character of the story, Meemaw resides in the small town of Muscadine, Louisianna. It is when she falls ill she calls her girls home – her granddaughters.

Rayanne, Sue Ellen, and Savannah are the three remaining girls that Marylynn has in her life. It was after one frightful day at the beach when they were all younger that their little sister Georgia was kidnapped. Georgia is the twin of Savannah, so losing her other half has hit her very hard throughout the years. After their sister went missing, their mother Beverly, unable to live her life after losing a child, falls ill and passes away. Marylynn, insistent that the girls live with her, approaches their in-and-out father, whom is an on the road truck driver, and announces the girls will be living with her from now on. Not wanting to stir up trouble, it seemingly appears he gives up the girls to Marylynn and she ends up raising them as her own.

Flashing forward to present day, the girls – who for various reasons, have not had striking relationships with any of their sisters, meet up to make sure Meemaw (Marylynn) is okay. While home, they remember their old house has a time capsule they buried, and the story goes on to ensure they dig it up out of their old backyard, while nearly being shot-gunned full of holes by the new owner! That was a hilarious take on retrieving the memory box.

While looking inside the capsule, they find photographs of their mother when she was younger, and a picture of all four of them on the beach that fateful day they lost Georgia – only, this time, they notice a woman in the background looking at them peculiarly.

Savannah, wanting to know what happened to her twin, and feeling as though this woman might have something to do with it, she convinces her sisters that this might be the missing link they have been searching for – their sister is still missing, and they have never found a body.

This book is a wonderful mystery and the lesson – “friends are nice, but family is family” (p. 78) is full circle. It’s awful wonderful to have friends. You can choose them. Your family however, you cannot choose. Sure, you may have rifts, you may have times where you don’t like each other – completely evident in this book. The lesson however, is that your family will always be there, regardless of what you do or say.

There are harsh words these sisters have to work out, not having talked for years. The author makes the characters real and raw, you can feel their pain of loss and heartbreak throughout their lives, and having to come to terms with their Meemaw being sick (as well as coming back to their small town that two out of three left, for various reasons) and they have to work out their heartbreak together.
You can’t run from your problems. They always have a way of finding you. Who better to work it out with than the people who all are hurting from the same things?

I gave this book 5/5 stars. Run, don’t walk, to read this. You won’t regret it.
delrick
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice story, quick read
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2024
The characters are quirky, which helps the plot line, but there is a serious let down. While the family drama was interesting, the mystery of the missing twin really grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, the mystery was never thoroughly addressed and that made the ending rather ho-hum.
Goddess Salas
4.0 out of 5 stars Cute little family dram book
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024
What a quaint family book. It's a cozy vacation read. I honestly didn't know what to expect, it kinda sounded like they may solve a mystery of how their little sister disappeared when they were kids, but in reality, it's about how that disappearance affected them 25 years of their lives.
We get to see each sister's POV, Rayanne the oldest, Sue Ellen, the middle, and Savannah the youngest and the twin sister of the missing Georgia. Each sister goes through their grief, and their growth on their lives and reflect how that disappearance affected them more than they thought it did. We also see their Meemaw POV too, which we also have to see their mom POV since their mom passed away too.
The anguish and guilt that each sister goes through, and the Meemaw, and see how they reacted to each other is huge. But throughout the book, with more bad news and other information, they bond more than ever and get closer as they finally get closure of what happened to Georgia so they get to move on and grow together.

Best Sellers in

 
 

Southern Chance: A Small Town, Second Chance Romance. (The Southern Series Book 1)

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 5593
2.49
 
 

The Unquiet Bones: A Novel

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 10239
5.99
 
 

Where the Lost Wander: A Novel

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 35544
2.49
 
 

All the Little Raindrops: A Novel

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 31446
2.49
 
 

Flock (The Ravenhood Book 1)

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 57086
8.54
 
 

Our Fae Queen Volume 1 (Books 1-3): First Half of the Complete Fantasy Romance Series (Our Fae Queen Complete Collection)

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 373
0.99
 
 

Meet Me in the Penalty Box: A Forbidden Hockey Romance (Orchid City Book 1)

3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 5443
4.99
 
 

Accidental Magic: A whimsical witchy midlife mystery: Myrtlewood Mysteries Book 1

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 9157
2.99