Book Review: The Fine Art of Insincerity

Ginger, Penny, and Rosemary are as different as three sisters could possibly be. They’re all married (with 9 marriages between them) and they all loved their Grandmother Lillian dearly, but that’s about as far as it goes.

The story starts about a year after Grandmother dies, when Ginger gets a call saying Grandmother’s beach cottage has sold and they have two weeks to clean out all personal possessions. Ginger – always the super organized one – jumps right into planning a cleaning spree with Penny and Rose over Labor Day weekend.

What they don’t know is that a lot more than Grandma’s house is about to get cleaned.

Long-buried secrets and hard looks at themselves (and at each other) get unpacked during three days of trashing junk, claiming favorite possessions, and scrubbing the cottage spotless. Each sister comes to the beach with one agenda in mind, but leaves with a completely new one. How quickly things can change – and how much we can learn we need each other – when we let ourselves peek beneath the surface.

*******

Angela Hunt is one of my favorite authors, but she hasn’t had a new book out in a while. I was so excited when I heard about The Fine Art of Insincerity and could hardly wait to read it. She’s a master at writing stories that pull me right into the pages and characters I care about from the start. Insincerity isn’t what I would call a light, entertaining read, but it’s also not heavy and depressing. The best way I can think to describe it is
full-fledged realistic – funny on one page, tearful on the next, making me think about my own life and relationships on the next.

If you’ve never read any of Angela’s books, I highly recommend them. She’s written contemporary women’s fiction, Biblical fiction, romance, and even some slight suspense. In other words, she’s probably written something you would enjoy, no matter what your taste in reading might be. Plus, if you’re a writer, she’s an incredible teacher. I had the chance to take one of her classes at a conference two years ago and she was amazing. If you get the chance to learn from her, don’t pass it up!

Check out her website and blog to learn more about Angela and her books. And if you’ve read The Fine Art of Insincerity or any of Angela’s other books, let us know what you think.