Indie Brown, having fled her Arizona hometown at the age of 19, has been living peacefully with her boyfriend Peter in their New England cabin in the woods for more than a decade. A phone call from her sister Lily drags a reluctant Indie back to Phoenix and the dysfunctional family she left behind. Their mother has been hospitalized for a mysterious poisoning and quickly transferred to the psychiatric ward once the doctors believe that she had caused her own illness. Indie agrees to take charge of their mother as Lily has a sickly newborn and does not have the time needed to care for their mother. Growing up the oldest of 3 children, a deceased brother Benny was between Indie and Lily, Indie had long been aware that their mother was different than others. Benny had an unfortunate episode as a child when he stopped breathing and mother was able to save his life but not until some brain damage had occurred. Lily had suffered from numerous unnamed illnesses having to do with stomach and intestinal issues. Now Lily's own baby, Violet, has a strange breathing issue that the doctors cannot quite put their finger on. Thrust back into the nightmares of her childhood, Indie must face the truth about her family before it is too late for Violet.

This is the second novel I have read by Ms. Greenwood and I will definitely read more. Her characters are well-developed, though not always likeable. Indie is deeply flawed but it is understandable considering the childhood she had. Mostly ignored by her mother but adored by her weak-willed father, Indie had no sense of her own self-worth. Even knowing that Peter loves her above all else, Indie still feels untethered and restless. It is difficult to watch her struggle with the past but the reader will certainly cheer her on.
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Well written, scary, pulls the reader in from the beginning. The subject at the base of the story is the illness called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a frightening disorder that is frequently passed on in following generations. Greenwood does a credible job with flashbacks as the heroine Indie is finally forced to put the pieces together and face the fact that their mother's fixation on her pretty, younger sister Lily was spurred by a terrible kind of abuse. Indie's marriage to Peter at an early age, the move across the country where they started a new life were how she managed to put all the troubling memories of the past behind her, to deny what she suspected to be the truth. But when she is summoned home by Lily when their mother is sick, Indie soon realizes that Lily's treatment of her own baby daughter is a repeat of what their mother had done to Lily herself. It is then that the past crashes in on her and Indie knows that Lily's baby's life is at stake; the repeated trips to the hospital when little Violet stops breathing are not happening because the baby was born with poor lungs. This author has shown how a person suffering from Munchhausen Syndrome can not only damage the child on whom she inflicts physical abuse, but that her actions can also lead to the devastation of an entire family. Frightening, emotional, and thought provoking. This book is a page-turner; I virtually read it in one day. ( )

Nearer Than the Sky recounts the story of generations of a family's grief.

Indie Brown has a secure and happy adult life. Suddenly she is drawn back to her family home when her infant niece becomes seriously ill. Once home, Indie suspects her sister Lily is harming her own baby. As the story unfolds, Indie comes to the realization that their mother was behind Lily's own sickly childhood.

There have been cases in the media and legal system regarding Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. This is a complex mental illness where the person affected, usually the mother, causes harm to her child. This brings attention to the child, but also to herself. She becomes addicted to the sympathy and attention. Obviously, there are inevitable lifelong consequences.

This book is well written in its handling and explanation of the disorder. The treatment and respect of the characters is also well done. Their relationships are tightly woven, exposing the fragile nature of mental illness, especially within mother-daughter relationships.

T. Greenwood handles a sensitive situation well, exposing a little discussed problem in a natural and realistic manner. ( )

Nearer than the Sky is very readable and deals with an interesting subject matter, however I felt that it was a bit unrealistic and seemed as if it had been put together by someone trying hard to understand the perspectives of the characters but failing somewhat. For example, if Indie had been through everything described in the book then I doubt her life in Maine would be as 'together' as it is portrayed. I felt that the issue of her choosing someone less 'damaged' for a partner and then struggling with his inability to fully understand her could have been explored more, rather than wrapped up so neatly and quickly. Indie and Peter were well drawn but I felt most of the others were somewhat in danger of appearing as caricatures.

Indie has put a lot of distance between herself and her family, and her life with her partner in Vermont is good. When their mother gets sick - she's sure she's being poisoned - she goes home to help. Her visit brings childhood memories to the surface, of how her sister was the favorite, the pretty one. Their mother took her to contests and pageants while she stayed home with their retarded brother. But there are other memories, of her sister getting sick with mysterious illnesses. What part did their mother play in this? Now Indie sees that her sister may be acting out the same pattern with her own daughter. It's what they know, after all.

It's an interesting book about families - how it feels to be the daughter who doesn't get attention, even if that attention is deadly; how patterns get repeated; how it is to be the one who always needs help. I liked it a lot. ( )