The Shared Life of Egan and Lucian: A Novel

Summary

An epic and engrossing debut novel about identical twin brothers, the woman they both love, and the secrets at the heart of the beautiful, rugged Maine island they call home

The McCauleys have raised their twin sons on Shep's Island, just off the coast of Maine: Egan wants to be a professional athlete, Lucian a painter, following in the footsteps of their complicated and distant mother. Growing up in the wake of a childhood accident that marked both boys—one physically, one emotionally—they are inseparable until Lucian quietly begins to wonder who he might be with no mirror image walking beside him.

On a trip abroad, Lucian meets Lea, who follows him home to idyllic Shep's Island. When a shocking family secret comes to light, Lea flees back to the mainland—not with Lucian but with his twin, Egan, whose connection with Lea is immediate and undeniable.

The years will pass with Lea caught between the two brothers. Even when she decides to begin a life on Shep's Island with one of them, fate will continue to bring these three into one another's orbit. The island, with its shifting shoreline and harsh beauty, echoes the changing colors of their familial and romantic love. Rose Smith's debut novel feels like an instant classic as it traces the McCauleys across the seasons and the decades, mapping the slow erosion and quiet resilience of people who have loved each other imperfectly and at great cost.