Book Review for Roll the Sun Across the Sky by Barbara Linn Probst

 

Roll the Sun Across the Sky by Barbara Linn Probst

Published: May 13, 2025 by She Writes Press

 

Taken from Goodreads:  For fans of dual-timeline, mother-daughter novels like The Paper Palace and Tom Lake, a compelling contemporary novel about a woman’s struggle to face her reckless history, with its trail of damage and deception, and her quest for the redemption that might still be possible.

From the ruins of Egypt to the privileged life of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the story of a woman’s odyssey through the maze of love, loyalty, recklessness, and remorse, as the consequences of her acts ripple through the generations.

Approaching a milestone birthday, Arden Rice has seen it all: three marriages, hardship and wealth, choices she both regrets and defends, all fueled by the same fierce desire—to give her daughter the best possible life. At least, that’s what Arden tells herself.

But nothing is simple. Arden is haunted by her impetuous history, with its trail of damage and deception. Yet she’s finally made a life where she can be her best self—until the unthinkable happens, and a train engineer’s lapse in attention throws that life into chaos.

Secrets begin to unravel, and Arden finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew—along with her own role in shaping the disturbing person her daughter has become. As the stakes increase, especially for the vulnerable granddaughter who’s now in her care, Arden must face questions she’s spent a lifetime avoiding: Which acts define a person? Can someone be better than her worst acts?

For fans of dual-timeline and mother-daughter novels, a compelling story about a woman’s struggle to face her reckless history, with its trail of damage and deception, and her quest for the redemption that might still be possible.

 

My Thoughts:  Arden is a mother and grandmother.  She is raising her granddaughter after a tragedy.   The dual timelines of Arden at 24 years old and the current time of a 60 year old Arden give the reader a look at many of the reasons that Arden is how she is.   The reason that she is so selfish, so self-absorbed, so unlikeable.  She is the type of character that would usually cause me to put the book down and DNF it.  Yet, I felt intrigued but Arden.  I had hope that the ending would show her a changed woman.

Roll the Sun Across the Sky is a great book club book.   There are so many discussion points that I cannot wait to chat about the book with my book club.  This book will have many different ratings, I will give it 3.5 stars. 

 

Thank you GetRedPR for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from Goodreads):  Barbara Linn Probst is an award-winning author of contemporary women’s fiction living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her acclaimed novels QUEEN OF THE OWLS (2020) and TTHE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES (2021) were medalists for prestigious national awards, and THE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Indie Books of 2021. Barbara has also published over fifty essays on the craft of writing for sites such as Jane Friedman and Writer Unboxed, along with two nonfiction books.