Keepsake

KEEPSAKE

From the critically acclaimed author of Real Life & Liars and Things We Didn’t Say comes a timely and provocative novel that asks, What happens when the things we own become more important than the people we love?

Trish isn’t perfect. She’s divorced, raising two kids — so of course her house isn’t pristine. But she’s got all the important things right and she’s convinced herself she has it all under control. That is, until the day her son gets hurt and Child Protective Services comes calling. It’s at that moment Trish is forced to consider the one thing she’s always hoped wasn’t true: that she’s living out her mother’s life as a compulsive hoarder.

The last person Trish ever wanted to turn to for help is her sister Mary — meticulous, perfect Mary whose house is always spotless … and who moved away from their mother to live somewhere else, just like Trish’s oldest child has done now. But now, working together to get Trish’s disaster of a home into livable shape, two very different sisters are about to uncover more than just piles of junk , as years of secrets, resentments, obsessions, and pain are finally brought into the light.

PRAISE & REVIEWS

“Riggle offers a marvelous and sensitive portrayal of rich, full characters, using realistic dialogue and intriguing secondary subplots. The housecleaning scenes leave the reader feeling horrified yet sympathetic at the same time. She also employs a light sense of humor, while never making fun of the disorder at hand. Highly recommended.”
Booklist (starred review)

“This story of two sisters, each broken in her own way, is as unflinching as it is compassionate. I was pulled in from the first page, as Trish and Mary reckon with the devastations of loss and the bonds of family, and as they make their hard, brave, often funny journeys toward hope and wholeness.”
—Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Falling Together and Belong to Me

“Kristina Riggle addresses the difficult turf of the hoarder with compassion and understanding. With its contrasting sisters — one unable to let go of things, the other unable to allow clutter into her life — KEEPSAKE immerses us in the complicated world of family and love.”
—Meg Waite Clayton, bestselling author of The Four Ms. Bradwells and The Wednesday Sisters

“In Riggle’s touching and timely latest … the women struggle to come to terms with their mother’s behavior and the stark differences in their responses, and try to remember that they are cleaning house for the sake of the next generation.”
Publishers Weekly