The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
by Elisabeth Robinson

List Price: $13.95
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0316159360
Publisher: Back Bay Books

Olivia Hunt is unemployed, living alone, and working on the fourth draft of her suicide note when she gets a phone call that lets her know what real trouble is. Madeleine Hunt is her younger sister, the annoyingly happy one who married the hometown guy while Olivia set out to conquer Hollywood, ha, ha. And Maddie is in trouble. Pulled home for the first time in years, Olivia gets a painful dose of real life as she tries to help her sister, keep her parents from running off the rails, and reconnect with the boyfriend who left without a word but might still be the love of her life. And, of course, the movie she's been trying to put in front of cameras for years heats up just as she leaves town. Racing between Hollywood, hospital rooms, and film sets in Spain, Olivia has to do the impossible at work and at home--and learns that love will let her do no less. By turns charming, heartrending, and hilarious, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters is a novel for anyone who has ever loved a sister (or a great story).

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1. The Hunt sisters, Olivia and Maddie, are very different from each other. As you were reading, did you like one of the sisters better than the other? Which of the Hunt sisters do you most identify with? How would you describe the relationship between the sisters? Are Olivia and Maddie like any sisters you know?

2. The story is told entirely in letters, all of them written by one character. What did you enjoy about this form? How well did you get to know all the novel's characters? Which letters are your favorites? In which do you think Olivia is most revealing? most truthful?

3. The epigraph suggests that hope is a kind of happiness. Do you think that's true? Does Olivia believe that? How does her attitude about hope change? What about Maddie's? Do you consider hope a delusion? Or a choice?

4. Why does Olivia start writing to her ex-boyfriend Michael? Does she get what she wants ---or what she needs? Do you think Michael and Olivia belong together?

5. Are there parallels between the themes in Don Quixote and in this novel? Don Quixote's idealism ultimately inspires his cynical friend Sancho. Is Maddie or Olivia most like Don Quixote? Does that change at different points in the novel?

6. At various times, Olivia is forced to make sacrifices for work, love, and family. Which is most important to her in the beginning . . . and at the end? Which story line did you find most compelling?

7. There are four couples in the book. Which couple's relationship did you understand best? Is any of them similar to a relationship you've been in? What does Olivia learn about relationships by observing other couples?

8. Would you want the job of a Hollywood producer? What do you find interesting or appealing about the job? Do you think Olivia will continue to produce movies?

9. Did you like having real celebrities interact with the novel's fictional characters?

10. What do you think of the portrayal of doctors in the novel? Olivia writes some angry letters to doctors. Was she right ---or just upset? Have you ever written that kind of letter?

11. Maddie's struggle with leukemia brings Olivia (and Maddie) face to face with questions of faith. What does faith mean to Olivia? How do her beliefs differ from Maddie's? Do they change in the course of the novel? Does Olivia reach any conclusions about God? How did your own ideas about faith influence your reactions to Olivia's and Maddie's questions?

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"funny and devastating."

—Redbook, "Hot Winter Reads"

"It's a difficult balancing act, but Robinson pulls it off, veering smartly from movie-business absurdity to family grief and back again. It's remarkable that she does it at all, and does it masterfully, using the difficult epistolary form."

—Boston Globe

"Elisabeth Robinson's book . . . will have you speed-dialing your best friend to share this great read."

—Marie Claire's "10 Best to Do" section

"Engaging and heartrending."

—Pages Magazine

"Entertaining....Robinson's take on Tinsletown is exact and carefully shaded. . . . It's a subtle reminder of the amount of hope and humor needed to counter the panic and helplessness when life unravels on all fronts."

—Time Out New York

"Wryly effective, capturing the momentum of family sorrow, the ways in which people can care for each other without ever quite coming to terms."

—-New York Times Book Review

"A wrenching, tragi-comic first novel....moving but never maudlin, this is an accomplished debut."

—-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Likely to be the first literary surprise of 2004....Tough, tender, and tearful, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters helps us make sense of it all."

—-Lev Grossman, Time

"Elisabeth Robinson's heartfelt and hilarious debut is a story to treasure. Sisters everywhere will rejoice in the beautifully drawn characters of Olivia and Maddie, who are so real, you swear you know them upon first meeting. And like true sisters, you never want to let them go. I loved it!"

—-Adriana Trigiani, author of Lucia, Lucia

"The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters does a hard thing: it makes tragedy funny. And it does a much harder thing: it makes illness interesting. Elisabeth Robinson's epistolary odyssey renders up ruthless Hollywood and the forgiving Midwest with pathos, precision, and unfailing wit."

—-Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me

"Hollywood and terminal illness are equally treacherous subjects for the novelist. Like a latter-day Quixote, Elisabeth Robinson has taken on both in her first novel, and succeeded brilliantly. Smart, stubborn, and independent to a fault, Olivia Hunt is one of the more memorable women in recent fiction. Robinson's tough-minded compassion and her wit make The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by turns hilarious and deeply moving."

—-Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City