Write My Name Across the Sky: A Novel

Sadness from the lose of someone dear to you is fractious. It tears you apart especially if it’s a parent. Two sisters different in looks, in fathers, in personalities in life sharing the same sadness for a mother that is gone. Sam the oldest berates her younger sister Willow for no apparent reason. Maybe she’s just mean. A serious illness brings Sam to the edge of life and many decisions she questions now. Her aunt Gloria has her secrets but she is steadfastly there for the girls. So many interesting characters along with their interesting lives makes this a great book to read. Their personality complications and love problems makes for a story worthy of your time. Hope you like it as well as I did.

This is a wonderful family drama. It’s about 3 creative women, bound by love and family. Meet half sisters, Sam and Willow, and their aunt, Gloria, a mother figure after their own mother died. Each woman has her own sphere of creativity, and I love how the author shows us each one. As the story opens, the two sisters are each facing a creative crisis, and needs the other two (as well as friends and colleagues) to help her resolve it. Each woman also has (or had) a man in her creative corner, so to speak. Gloria lost touch with the man she loved deeply decades ago, but thinks about him often as her crisis circles around her. Sam’s best friend cut her off a year ago, and she feels adrift without his support. Willow hasn’t ever had a supportive relationship, and washes up back in New York after the last disappointing relationship with a man ends. I really like how the author deals with the man-woman love-partnership puzzles of each woman. No fairy tales, but very human, very real tales of the hard personal growth and deep need for forgiveness we all experience in our most treasured relationships. If you like stories about mature women who face personal challenges with courage and who help each other, you’ll like this one. If you like stories about creativity and the often lonely path of the creatively driven, you’ll like it. If you like stories about the possibilities of creative partnerships between men and women, you’ll like it. It’s a clean read, with no swearing or violence, and a couple of discreet off-screen sex scenes.

I love this author's way of spinning a story. If needed something to just 'take me away' and this book did just that. I love the gentle girl power focus. Guys came second. How refreshing. I also love that it was set in NY, always a treat. My sister is a concert violinist. I'm classically trained but chose songwriting because I love lyrics. Both of us were prodigies as kids. The only part of the book that didn't quite ring true was the, "I'm going to compose a folky piece and win a competition that pays my rent," bit. Ugh... not quite how it goes. I've won many a classical competition. They are strictly written note. And then there are songwriting competitions - mostly a way for certain people to make a lot of money off innocent amatuer songwriters. But this mix of Celtic/violin/lyrics turning into a competition piece? Nope. That's like watching people fake playing instruments during films. Giant eye roll. But this book was so lovely - and even the music part, SO sweet, I vote 'no biggie' and give it five stars. I do believe escaping into music is a way many musicians go. I do believe the edgy sister, the free-spirited aunt who flies around. And I was married to an Israeli lol. They can be quite charming. This one sounded very special :-) Sweet book, awesome writer. A person just forgets they are reading and sinks into the book...!

Barbara O’Neal writes beautifully, her characters are well developed and story lines intertwine seamlessly. I lose track of time when I read her books and Write My Name Across the Sky is no different. This is a story about family, the bonds of sisterhood and ultimately how three independent women are stronger together than apart. Willow, the younger sister is a truly talented musician, pixie-like and so eager to win her sister’s love. Her music is her world, much to her undoing at times but she also loves to nurture and take care of others. Sam, the older sister who is statuesque and has a beautifully gifted brain. A developer of video games, she has brains but feels ugly, odd and is full of resentment toward everyone especially Willow. Gloria, the auntie who swooped in and took care of the girls when their mother, a beautifully talented but unavailable musician died. Gloria has lived a glamorous life as a TWA flight attendant, traveling to exotic locales, having adventures, romantic flings and all that life entails. Now settled in NYC, she is still glamorous and an influencer. However, one past adventure is coming back to haunt not only her but others as well. This story will draw you in, you will feel Willow’s hurt and uncertainty, Sam’s anger and inability to ask for help, Gloria’s fear and protectiveness of her nieces; and how ultimately the resolve of each woman to determine their own path while staying together as a family. Pull up a comfy seat, you’re going be a while!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of this family. Each character is so unique and special. I hope you don’t miss this one!

Enjoyable book to read and/or listen to, the performance was very good. Took me a while to get into the book, but it was interesting and different. I recommend this book,

Her prose is wonderful - smooth as silk. Her characters have depth and dimension - thoughtful, funny, irritating, kind, flawed, intriguing and interesting. She has a way of weaving a story which pulls my emotions in many directions. Well with the read!

The story is about Gloria, a retired TWA flight attendant, and her two nieces, Sam and Willow. The story bounces between each of their points of view but it's clear whose story is being told. The writing is beautiful as O'Neal's writing always is, but to me it was overblown with too many extraneous details. She is fascinated by the relationships and bonds between women, but sometimes overdoes it. The stories get repetitive and it takes too long to get to the gist of what happened. The core story is about the three women and the men they have loved or might love. Sam is unlikeable, and her software company is going under. Willow, a musician, is running from a failed relationship in LA. The two girls couldn’t be more different. The three women are united in the fabulous NY apartment inherited from the girls’ mother, Gloria’s sister, the singer of the title song, who died young of a drug overdose. The apartment sounds wonderful but do we have to hear about the light streaming in and what they see out the windows so often? There is little mention of day to day practicalities like who pays for what, or anyone’s income. The men are almost side notes to the women’s stories. Gloria’s story is the most interesting, but takes forever to unfold. Sam is unlikeable and pushes everyone away. Her illness is drawn out way too long. Willow’s love of music is also mentioned too often. Her romance seems like an afterthought. I think O’Neal gets so caught up in the characters and descriptions that she loses sight of the threads of the plot. All three stories are wrapped up quickly.