Heartbroken - by Lisa Unger (Paperback)

About the Book

While Kate pens an evocative historical novel based on family journals, her neighbor, Emily, flees a volatile relationship to an island in the Adirondacks where she, Kate, and Kate's mother, Birdie, face the consequences of their pasts.

Book Synopsis

Kate has written a novel based on a tragic love story from her family's past. Emily is a struggling waitress whose toxic relationship with the wrong man has led her to make a horrible, life-altering decision. Without knowing each other, and with lives that couldn't be more different, they head to the same point on the map: Heart Island. It's an idyllic place in the middle of an Adirondack lake, and home to harsh and unyielding matriarch Birdie Burke. These three women find themselves on a heart-wrenching collision course--with dark memories, restless ghosts and each other. And unbeknownst to them all, Heart Island has a terrifying history all its own.

Review Quotes

"Stellar. . . . Heartbroken should be on everyone's summer to-read list. For best results, read it alone on an island on a dark and stormy night." --USA Today (4 stars)

"Heartbroken has all the makings of a high-wire thriller. But it's the twisted psyches of its main characters that really unsettle. . . . Unger expertly shows how quiet betrayals can rupture a life as deeply as an act of violence." --People

"A can't-put-down thriller interlaced with insightful family drama and echoes of Wuthering Heights." --Family Circle

"Lisa Unger masterfully writes of the joys and frustrations of family life in her latest novel. . . . What makes [it] shine is the struggle of multidimensional characters with issues that all of us face but sometimes don't want to acknowledge." --Associated Press

"Suspenseful. . . . [Unger] keeps the tension high as she delves deep into each woman's psyche, showing how the smallest decision can have far-reaching consequences." --South Florida Sun Sentinel

"[An] insidious psychological thriller." --Chicago Tribune

"A superb stylist. . . . Readers will be haunted for a long time by this profound and heart-pounding thriller." --Florida Weekly

"Just in time to chill readers to the bone on some steamy summer night." --Tampa Bay Times

"Master storyteller Lisa Unger weaves a compelling plotline." --Bookreporter

"Unger delivers compelling, fully drawn characters while at the same time putting the thrill in thriller. A first-class page-turner." --Booklist (starred review)

"Unger skillfully builds the fissures of each of [her characters'] lives as she illustrates the power of the heart and the corrosive nature of lies." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"One of Unger's best novels yet." --Library Journal (starred review)

"A triumvirate of strong women pitted against a shared past and dangerous future. . . . Unger knows how to write a taut thriller." --Kirkus

About the Author

Lisa Unger is an award-winning New York Times and international bestselling author. Her novels have sold over one million copies in the United States and have been translated into twenty-six different languages.