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Missing Sisters: A Funny, Heartrending Story About an Orphan and Her Twin Sister for Kids
Alice's life is about to change.
She's a skinny orphan. She's never been able to hear too well. And she can't speak too well, either. The only person who seems to care for her—one of the nuns at the orphanage—gets taken away from Alice in a freak accident.
And then one day somebody calls Alice by the wrong name.
Miami, she says.
Miami Shaw.
Miami Shaw, who may be Alice's twin sister.
Who lives only a few miles away.
Who has what Alice has always dreamed of—a whole wonderful family. But is there a place in that family for Alice?
From bestselling author Gregory Maguire comes a funny, heartrending story of the strength of sisterhood and the struggle to find a family of one's own.
She's a skinny orphan. She's never been able to hear too well. And she can't speak too well, either. The only person who seems to care for her—one of the nuns at the orphanage—gets taken away from Alice in a freak accident.
And then one day somebody calls Alice by the wrong name.
Miami, she says.
Miami Shaw.
Miami Shaw, who may be Alice's twin sister.
Who lives only a few miles away.
Who has what Alice has always dreamed of—a whole wonderful family. But is there a place in that family for Alice?
From bestselling author Gregory Maguire comes a funny, heartrending story of the strength of sisterhood and the struggle to find a family of one's own.
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1994
34 people are currently reading
1342 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Maguire
112 books9,167 followersGregory Maguire is an American author, whose novels are revisionist retellings of children's stories (such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into Wicked). He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England (a non-profit educational charity).
Maguire has served as artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Hambidge Center. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
January 20, 2010
This is a very special little gem of a book. I thought I knew Gregory Maguire, the man who made me root for the Wicked Witch of the West and understand the stepsisters some called ugly. But until now I have never read his children's/YA fiction, and "Missing Sisters" is something unique. Maguire's voice here reminds you of his adult novels, but there are passages here you feel could be written by a completely different author. The directness Maguire gives here, with his characters of orphans and the nuns who take care of them, is completely nuanced and illustrates different stages of adolescence beautifully.
There is much to be learned from this story, for adults and children, I would imagine. About growing up and going on and dealing, about family, about friendships. Read this one!
There is much to be learned from this story, for adults and children, I would imagine. About growing up and going on and dealing, about family, about friendships. Read this one!
July 18, 2013
had great potential. fell short.
August 23, 2019
Meh. Not at all what I expected based on the synopsis and I felt like it could have been so much better. Don’t even think I would have liked it when I was a young adult.
December 28, 2008
This book is about two young girls in 1960’s New York. Alice has a hearing loss and a speech impediment, and she lives in a Catholic home for orphans. Miami has been adopted into a crowded but happy home. Neither of them know about the other, and this book is about them finding each other again.
Oh, man. My faith in YA lit and Gregory Maguire are equally restored. I’ve found the first recently rather dull, and the second frustratingly unwilling to pull his endings through.
This is a book for young readers in which the adults are lively and funny and compassionate, doing their best with the world as it is. It’s a book about faith that didn’t make me wince – faith in the literal way of children, and the resigned but sincere way of adults. It’s a book about miracles, of all things, and I liked it.
Mostly, I think, it’s because the book purposely contravenes standard YA lit tropes. The story does not go at all the way you think it will when Alice and Miami find each other. There’s no sudden and unexpected construction of a traditional family, no matter what flashy tricks the girls try with news reporters. The story is about how happiness doesn’t take the big miracle, the flash and the bang and the wild chance, it just takes getting up in the morning. It’s about how life doesn’t have to be like a young adult novel to still be pretty good.
Unrelatedly, Maguire really does have a delicate touch with his marginalized protagonists. He writes about people who have fallen between the cracks, who are marked, and he likes to have it written on the body through disability (here) or green skin (a metaphor which flickers between race and disability in Wicked) or beauty itself (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister). He does this with grace and grittiness, so the marks are catalyst and reaction and product all at once. Which makes them very real.
Oh, man. My faith in YA lit and Gregory Maguire are equally restored. I’ve found the first recently rather dull, and the second frustratingly unwilling to pull his endings through.
This is a book for young readers in which the adults are lively and funny and compassionate, doing their best with the world as it is. It’s a book about faith that didn’t make me wince – faith in the literal way of children, and the resigned but sincere way of adults. It’s a book about miracles, of all things, and I liked it.
Mostly, I think, it’s because the book purposely contravenes standard YA lit tropes. The story does not go at all the way you think it will when Alice and Miami find each other. There’s no sudden and unexpected construction of a traditional family, no matter what flashy tricks the girls try with news reporters. The story is about how happiness doesn’t take the big miracle, the flash and the bang and the wild chance, it just takes getting up in the morning. It’s about how life doesn’t have to be like a young adult novel to still be pretty good.
Unrelatedly, Maguire really does have a delicate touch with his marginalized protagonists. He writes about people who have fallen between the cracks, who are marked, and he likes to have it written on the body through disability (here) or green skin (a metaphor which flickers between race and disability in Wicked) or beauty itself (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister). He does this with grace and grittiness, so the marks are catalyst and reaction and product all at once. Which makes them very real.
March 17, 2020
I liked the idea and premise of this book, but I really didn't like this book.
July 21, 2025
I loved this story for its simplicity, yet sharp insight into the minds of orphaned children who must define love on their own terms, and the challenges faced by the families (of various definitions) that try to love and nurture them. As a Roman Catholic, I also enjoyed the glimpse into the changing Church at this point in the 1960s. A quick read that is still eloquent and moving, it will stay with me for awhile.
February 28, 2018
Sweet story. Not anything to get too excited about, but certainly not sad I read.
October 16, 2017
This was a lovely little book, almost a fantasy, really, because in my experience of Catholic adoption in the 1960's, there wasn't nearly as much kindness involved for any of the parties. The adoptive parents involved were extraordinarily thoughtful and kind, the nuns were unusually sympathetic and understanding, and there were no really bad guys, except perhaps for a predictably unkind competitive fellow orphan and adults and children who were not as inclusive of a child of disabilities as we'd hope someone would be today.
I enjoyed the vivid local details of upstate New York, and I liked both of the plucky main characters.
As a person whose life was very much shaped by my parent's less than happy experience with Catholic adoptions in the 1960's, the fervent desire for connection between these biological sisters was deeply felt and emotionally resonant, and I appreciated the somewhat escapist benign view of their experience.
I enjoyed the vivid local details of upstate New York, and I liked both of the plucky main characters.
As a person whose life was very much shaped by my parent's less than happy experience with Catholic adoptions in the 1960's, the fervent desire for connection between these biological sisters was deeply felt and emotionally resonant, and I appreciated the somewhat escapist benign view of their experience.
May 31, 2021
MISSING SISTERS is a novel targeted to children 8-12 years of age -- about twin sisters who stumble upon the existence of the other after living apart for most of their lives. I think it probably holds up better for its targeted age range than it did for me as an adult reading it. Though I am ordinarily a big fan of Gregory Maguire.
It's 1968. Alice is 12, partially deaf, deeply religious, and living in a Catholic orphanage in Troy, New York. What she doesn't know is that her sister, Miami Shaw, has been adopted into a loving family in not far away in Albany. Only after a few weeks at a summer camp does Alice begin to suspect she has a double living somewhere. How she and Miami come to meet and what happens afterwards represents the meat of this novelette.
It's a quick read and might make a good book for a family to read together. I do not however recommend it for other adult readers.
It's 1968. Alice is 12, partially deaf, deeply religious, and living in a Catholic orphanage in Troy, New York. What she doesn't know is that her sister, Miami Shaw, has been adopted into a loving family in not far away in Albany. Only after a few weeks at a summer camp does Alice begin to suspect she has a double living somewhere. How she and Miami come to meet and what happens afterwards represents the meat of this novelette.
It's a quick read and might make a good book for a family to read together. I do not however recommend it for other adult readers.
July 11, 2018
A cute little read by the author who wrote "Wicked". I have read quite a few of Gregory Maguire's books. This one was very different, but I liked and enjoyed it.
"Alice's life is about to change.
She's a skinny orphan. She's never been able to hear too well. And she can't speak too well, either. The only person who seems to care for her—is one of the nuns at the orphanage—and she gets taken away from Alice in a freak accident.
And then one day somebody calls Alice by the wrong name."
"Alice's life is about to change.
She's a skinny orphan. She's never been able to hear too well. And she can't speak too well, either. The only person who seems to care for her—is one of the nuns at the orphanage—and she gets taken away from Alice in a freak accident.
And then one day somebody calls Alice by the wrong name."
November 1, 2017
Not quite a novel, more of a novelette, but short as it is, Missing Sisters is a sweet and charming story. It's very light in plot (two young girls who didn't know the other existed discover that they are twins who were separated at birth and sent to live in different "families") but the sisters are likable as is nearly everyone else. A nice, light read.
October 16, 2021
Interesting story about twins who were separated as toddlers. One grows up in a loving, somewhat quirky family and the other is raised by nuns in an orphanage. By a chance of fate they are reconnected at age 12 and find the joys and frustrations of being sisters. Well written with wonderful characters.
July 31, 2020
Not too bad, but also not something that really excited me. The first chapter talked about a girl named Alice in an orphanage run by nuns. I thought "Missing Sisters" refered to missing nuns, but it's actually not. It's missing a sister as in a sibling.
June 15, 2017
Quick enjoyable listen. Very heart warming story.
June 23, 2017
YA Book; not what I expected.
July 26, 2017
I really like this author. This story was quiet and unassuming. An interesting read, but nothing to rant or rave about, unlike the Wicked series, which held me enthralled for quiet some time.
December 29, 2017
I loved the simple truths!
March 14, 2018
Cute little predictable story
January 29, 2019
The story was an interesting one, but I'm used to Maguire really digging into issues and he just seemed to gloss over everything in this one. The ending also felt very rushed. Otherwise, a good read.
October 15, 2020
Lovely, feel-good read
Charming story of twin girls separated as infants and later discovering each other, amid their differing surrounding. Worth your time..
Charming story of twin girls separated as infants and later discovering each other, amid their differing surrounding. Worth your time..
August 30, 2021
Did it's job as an audiobook entertaining me on a 4 hour drive.
September 24, 2021
I finally gave up after about 30% just cause I couldn’t get into it. Definitely a younger teen or even tween book.
October 28, 2021
It's sweet.
And I love that it's almost casually Catholic.
Extremely short though.
And I love that it's almost casually Catholic.
Extremely short though.
December 10, 2021
Sweet and simple story, but I enjoyed it. Very different from the only other Gregory Maguire book that I have read before, Wicked!
February 22, 2022
Alice is an orphan with a disability--she can't hear or speak well. One day she finds that she has a twin sister--something neither of them knew. This cute story by Gregory Maguire was a quick read.
April 6, 2023
Loved this book. Very descriptive. Drew me into the story. Short book but full of adjectives 😁
May 5, 2023
My least favorite of any of G.M.'s works. It was just okay....
January 16, 2025
Meh, the story was fine. Nothing special.
June 27, 2025
A parent trap meets little orphan Annie retelling. More suspenseful and not as predictable as I thought. Great audiobook for young readers who appreciate Catholic literature.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews