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Sisters of a Halved Heart

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What to expect

The electric story of two sisters and an unthinkable betrayal. 

Mira Guhathakurta is a poetry editor at a distinguished literary magazine in New York, a dream job that has given her nearly everything she's always wanted. And then she reconnects with Jack from college—kind, funny, intelligent Jack—and suddenly Mira feels as if she might have found her soulmate. They've woven their lives together so thoroughly; all that remains is for Jack to meet her family: her beloved father and dear sister Joy. But when Joy commits an unthinkable act of betrayal, the sisters are impossibly fractured and their father's heart is broken. As the sisters navigate their tumultuous relationship and Mira starts over, it turns out that Joy isn't the only one who has been—or continues to be—dishonest.

In a propulsive story of love and passion and the ultimate pull of family, Sisters of a Halved Heart examines the lengths we will go to in order to make our own narratives of love work out, the lies we tell ourselves, and the ways in which the truth, often right in front of you, can be impossible to see.

Critics Review

“Lush, heady, sophisticated, suffused with atmospheric detail that spans continents, Nayantara Roy’s novel is so riveting the reader will want to keep turning the pages, but so beautifully written it encourages lingering, savoring Roy’s elegant prose. The subject here is love in all its forms: filial, sisterly, thwarted, abiding, romantic, miraculous, and always, always surprising. I loved this book.” —Dani Shapiro, author of Signal Fires
"Witty, sexy, dark, and messy, Sisters of a Halved Heart is a novel of passion, renewal, and family, both related and chosen. It is a story for people in search of love and belonging—a story for all of us."
 —Juhea Kim, internationally bestselling author of A Love Story from the End of the World
“Nayantara Roy's achingly powerful second novel, Sisters of a Halved Heart, maps the complicated emotional terrain between two half-sisters who try to mend their relationship in the wake of a cataclysmic betrayal . . . As the sisters circle one another warily, bound together by their lifetime connection and their father's uncertain health, Roy examines the ways in which people hurt, question, support, reassure, and even abandon the ones they love most . . . Roy traces the small intimacies of love through weighted moments and shared objects: a borrowed silk coat, a Cat Power song, lamb shanks in cumin gravy, mango pie at Thanksgiving. She gives voice to the shifting layers of family dynamics: adult siblings reverting to childhood roles; people keeping secrets to protect the ones they love; family members learning how to carry on after the unimaginable happens. In the end, Roy's characters achieve both a layered complexity and a certain "hard-won sweetness" to their love. With subtle grace and a fierce, deep compassion for her characters, Roy paints an unforgettable portrait of sisterhood and family.”—Katie Noah Gibson, Shelf Awareness
"In this deeply emotional novel, Nayantara Roy explores the rivalry and heartbreak of two sisters. Roy has a powerful understanding of family and the complexities of love.”—Delia Ephron, author of Left on Tenth

"Roy’s narrative and lyrical gifts are on full display in this moving and beautiful novel about love in all its forms. A sweeping and lustrous book, Sisters of a Halved Heart has re-wired how I think about familial relationships, how we fall in and out of love, and the purpose of poetry in our daily lives. What a joy to read."

—Michael Dickman, author of Pacific Power and Light and Days and Days

"Readers looking for messy, complicated characters .  . . will find satisfaction in every drama-laden page of this novel. The struggle for parental love and approval between the sisters feels authentic, [creating] opportunities for discussion on the impact of destructive versus supportive sibling relationships. Roy's (The Magnificent Ruins, 2024) latest is a solid suggestion for fans of . . . character-driven novels.”

—Booklist
Author Nayantara Roy
Narrator Sharmila Devar
Duration 12 hours and 39 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781668657379
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Family life fiction, Fiction: general and literary
Availability US

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