The Puppeteer's Daughters by Heather Newton

 

Walter Gray has made his career from being a puppeteer.  He never used hand puppets; all of his work has been with puppets manipulated and given life through strings and the puppeteer's artistry.  Walter is turning eighty, now retired, and wants to protect his legacy.  He is also teetering on the edge of dementia and his three daughters are never sure when he tells them something if it is real or a fantasy of Walter's mind.

And he has something big to share.  At his eighth birthday party, Walter tells his three daughters that there is a fourth daughter and he wants them to find her.  He tells them about his will and the conditions that are placed on each one of them separately in order to gain their inheritance.

Jane is the oldest daughter and is a very strait-laced and organized person.  She has never liked puppets and resents the money that came to the family after she was grown as her childhood had been one of poverty.  Her inheritance requirement is to make a puppet herself.

Rose is the middle sister and she was born out of wedlock.  She has always felt like she wasn't really part of the family because of that and because of her weight problem.  Rosie basically lets anyone walk all over her due to her insecurities.  Her inheritance requirement is to lose weight, around one hundred pounds.

Cora is the youngest and was raised with money.   She always loved the puppets and went to work with Walter as she as she was old enough.  She has never married or even had a serious relationship, devoting herself to her career.  Now she must decide if she wants to continue running Walter's organization.  Her inheritance requirement is to get an outside life.  Can the three find the fourth daughter?

Heather Newton is an American author who writes in the women's fiction and Southern life genres.  In this book, she has created four unique personalities and the way that they interact and get along is interesting and involved.  The reader will get caught up in the various lives and want to read more to see how everything turns out.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did a great job.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.