"Moroccan-born Orban has published 10 novels in French; here she offers a memoir of her friendship with her sister, Maco, who died pregnant with her third child when she was only 35. In brief, elegiac chapters studded with old photographs of the two sisters, Orban revisits their childhood days in the early 1960s, playing together in their seaside home in northern Morocco, where the 'people around us were rich only in time, which they offered us with carefree generosity.' These were magical years: 'I loved being a child so much that I never wanted to grow up.' Orban, four years older than her sister, was shy and bookish; Maco was wild and passionate. Maco fell in love and married a Moroccan Muslim. Willing to convert and adopt a conservative lifestyle, but unwilling to accept his eventual infidelity, Maco divorced her husband, which meant she lost most contact with their two children. In constant pain from that separation, she still found love again and remarried. While Orban does not specify what killed Maco — an aneurysm, perhaps — her grief at the loss of her sister is immense. For not only has she lost her oldest friend, she has also lost her favorite season, her childhood. Even as a teenager, she realized, 'The only one with whom I could secretly prolong that childhood was Maco.' Now she mourns: 'With Maco, I was still a child; I no longer am.' Orban's is a slight but heartfelt account of a very personal loss. Agent, Maria Campbell. (On sale July 6) Forecast: In France; where Orban is known as a playful literary critic, her books have been bestsellers. As this is her first book to be translated into English, however, American readers probably won't have heard of her and therefore may not be drawn to her perso nal story." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A deeply affecting exploration of family and identity, Orban's story is an incredibly poignant cry from the heart, as well as a celebration of her late sister's life and the bond of all sisters.

ONE DAY MY SISTER DISAPPEARED is Christine Orban's deeply affecting meditation on the loss of her sister and their enchanted childhood spent in Morocco. There she and her sister had a horse named Kidnapping, spent afternoons scorpion hunting and dreamt of a life of professional seashell collecting. Together, the girls built a world of memories in their shared pink bedroom. As teenagers, while Christine is away in Paris, Maco falls in love and marries Kassim, a dashing Muslim. Dutifully, Maco converts but her marriage soon crumbles under the strain of Kassim's infidelities and she is barred from seeing their children. Throughout this time, Maco's one consolation is her sister's love and support. But even that cannot save her. Maco dies suddenly and tragically from a rare blood disorder at the age of thirty, and this book is her sister's reckoning with her abiding grief. Ultimately, Christine's story is an incredibly poignant cry from the heart, as well as a celebration of her sister's life and the bond of all sisters. It is also a deeply affecting exploration of family and identity.

CHRISTINE ORBAN was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco. An award-winning horse rider, she is also the author of twelve French novels, among them the national bestsellers Fringues and Le Silence des Hommes, are national bestsellers. She lives in Paris with her husband and two sons.