Book Description
An epic, sweeping, and engrossing debut novel about twin brothers and their many loves and losses as they make a life on and away from their tiny family island off the coast of Maine
Love conquers all. But which kind of love? The love of a passionate partner? The love of one sibling for another? The love of a parent for their child, or the love of an artist toward their art? And what about the love one feels toward home, a landscape one always wishes to return to?
Rose Smith’s debut novel feels like an instant classic in its examination of the many kinds of love within the McCauley family, who live on Shep’s Island off the coast of Maine. Sheila and Ian have raised their twin boys here; Egan wants to be a professional athlete, Lucian an artist, following in the footsteps of his complicated and distant mother. On a trip abroad, Lucian meets Lea, who accompanies him to idyllic Shep’s Island. When a family secret comes to light, Lea flees back to the mainland—but with a different man: Lucian’s twin, Egan. Their connection is immediate and undeniable.
The years will pass with Lea caught between the two brothers. Even when she decides to begin a life on Shep’s Island with Egan, fate will continue to bring these three into one another’s orbit, all circling around the family unit. The island, with its shifting shoreline and harsh beauty, mirrors the inner lives of Smith’s characters. Ultimately, it is the heart of the family unit that perseveres—a magic and a bond that supersedes all that has come before.
Praise For This Book
“The Shared Life of Egan and Lucian doesn’t read like a debut novel, but that—somehow—is what it is. Characters as vividly real as your neighbors? An unforgettable setting? A propulsive plot? They’re all here, and Rose Smith is a writer to watch." —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Fool novels“With graceful prose and an attentive eye for the complexities and contradictions of love, Rose Smith has fashioned a saga of family romance and betrayal that held me in its grip from its opening sentence through to its bracing end.” —Marisa Silver, author of At Last
“Atmospheric and quietly powerful, The Shared Life of Egan and Lucian explores twinship, love, and identity on a Maine island where memory and rivalry bind two lives. A striking debut about family—what holds, what loosens, and what we cannot leave behind.” —Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters
