With the trial of a murderer darkening the news, the respected wife of a New Brunswick sea captain is drawn into the troubling case of a British home child. Mortified that she must purchase the beautiful teenager in a pauper auction to save her from lechery and abuse, Josephine Galloway finds herself unexpectedly the proprietor of a boarding house maintained by the sweat and tears of a curious collection of women. Among them is the English girl, Flora Salford, haunted by a missing piece of her life that she fears lost forever. Struggling to earn her place in this strange new country, Flora must decide if she can be the pillar Josephine's household desperately needs when tragedy strikes.
Reconnecting with characters of Beth Powning's beloved novel, The Sea Captain's Wife, while navigating the class realities of Victorian Canada and the rise of women's suffrage,The Sister's Tale is a novel of orphans and widows, terror and hope, and the relationships that hold women together when life falls apart.