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| Categories | Genre Fiction |
| Author | Kristin Hannah |
| Publisher | St. Martin’s Griffin; First Edition (January 5, 2010) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 544 pages |
| Item Weight | 2.31 pounds |
| Dimensions |
5.55 x 1.3 x 8.2 inches |
I. Book introduction
True Colors is New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah’s most provocative, compelling, and heart-wrenching story yet. With the luminous writing and unforgettable characters that are her trademarks, she tells the story of three sisters whose once-solid world is broken apart by jealousy, betrayal, and the kind of passion that rarely comes along.
The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother’s death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.
Winona, the oldest, needs her father’s approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn’t have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she’s determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him.
Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain.
Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town. . . .
In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.
With breathtaking pace and penetrating emotional insight, True Colors is an unforgettable novel about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption—and ultimately, what it means to be a family.
Editorial Reviews
- “In this big juicy novel, bestselling author Hannah (Firefly Lane) scores again with a tale of three sisters set in the sprawling ranchlands of Washington state…Deliciously romantic and often heartbreaking, this is a book you’ll want to climb inside of and stay as long as possible.” –People
- “[Makes] full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters and understanding of family dynamics.” –Kirkus Reviews
- “Hannah … really knows what women—her characters and her audience—want.”–Publishers Weekly
“A beautiful and captivating story of love and rivalry, family and community, that readers will happily devour.”
–Booklist - “An engrossing, fast-paced story that will appeal to readers of Barbara Delinsky and fans of women’s fiction.”
–Library Journal - “Clever plot twists and complex, engaging characters make True Colors a very satisfying read.”
— USA Today
About Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an American writer. Her most notable works include Winter Garden, The Nightingale, Firefly Lane, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. In 2024, St. Martin’s Publishing Group published her novel, The Women, which is set in America in the 1960s.
Kristin Hannah was born in California. After graduating with a degree in communication from the University of Washington, Hannah worked at an advertising agency in Seattle. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound law school and practiced law in Seattle before becoming a full-time writer. Hannah wrote her first novel with her mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, but the book was never published.
Hannah’s best-selling work, The Nightingale, has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide and has been published in 45 languages.
Hannah lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and their son.
II. Reviewer: True Colors by Kristin Hannah
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1. JESS reviews for True Colors
True Colours by Kristin Hannah is the second book I’ve read by this author and it’s the second time I’ve spent half the time reading either on the verge of tears, sniffling , crying or getting frustrated (a tip from one reader to another remember the tissues 🤧)
This book has everything from forbidden love, teenage love, complicated family relationships, a murder, a wrong conviction and freedom.
It’s definitely worth reading even if it is heartbreaking at times but the ending makes all the shed tears worth it (you’ll probably end up sniffling again)
I highly recommend it 📖
2. MEAGAN reviews for True Colors
4.85 Stars
“That was when i had my answer, when i finally knew who i was” 🥹💖
Kristin Hannah just take all my money at this point. Another book that i will remember for a lifetime 😭
The Nightingale– 4 ⭐️
The Great Alone– 5 ⭐️
The Women– 5 ⭐️
True Colors- 4.85 ⭐️
3. BARBARA reviews for True Colors
I read this book in four days. I couldn’t put it down. I just wanted to know what was going to happen. This is when you really know a book is good when it’s a page turner. Anyway, this book is about three sisters trying to stay together as a family. The dad is always drinking and basically hating his life after his wife died. The three sisters are trying to make their way in life and get torn apart but certain events that happen along the way. Eventually they reunite but there is tension still between them. It takes a lot of understanding and a young teenage boy to bring them all back together. I didn’t think I’d cry but you can’t help not to cry in this book. It pulls at your heart. The youngest sister runs the family horse farm and there are parts about the horses they just break your heart but makes you understand that animals can give us a sense of stability and happiness. They play a big part in our lives. Animals can help us get through the most difficult times in our lives when there is no one else to turn to.
4. RUBY DOSIER reviews for True Colors
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (90%)
Ummm
This book broke me. I just finished it two minutes ago and I’m bawling. I haven’t had a good 5-star read for a hot minute, and honestly I wasn’t expecting much from this book at first. I was in a hurry at the bookstore, and I saw a small section of Kristin Hannah’s books. I hadn’t heard of any of them, but I saw the pretty cover of True Colors and I decided to take a chance.
I was so invested in this story from the very beginning. I always love a story about sisters and sisterly love, so I was drawn in immediately. This book was very different than I expected, as I didn’t expect such a large presence of law and criminal justice.
Since I was a horse girl when I was younger, I really liked the presence of horses. Even Hood River was mentioned, which is where I’m from!! The familiar setting and relatively recent time period was the perfect combination to me, and I just loved it so much. I connected to nearly all of the characters and I was rooting for every single one of them.
The only troubling parts of this book were the stereotypes. The stereotypical “fat girl” and “violent Native American man” were pretty obnoxious, but if you’re able to acknowledge it and then try look past it, the story was good otherwise.
I’m so glad I took a chance on this book, because now it’s one of my favorites.
5. MARILYN reviews for True Colors
True Colors and True Love
Kristin Hannah is a wonderful writer. Immediately you are pulled into this wonderful story about three sisters and family relationships that are familiar and true. The story opens with their mothers death while they are still children and the special pain that binds them and cements their love for each other.
The great northwest comes alive in a generational love of the earth of horses and the question of true love. What is it and what does it mean? can you give it up and move on or does it stay lodged in your heart and mind and spirit forever.
A stranger half Indian and all trouble comes to steal the heart of the youngest sister and begins a trail of distrust jealousy competition and danger that ends in murder and an unjust conviction that persists and threatens to shatter the bonds of love through heartache and loss.
The lesson of true colors is never give up on love and always cling to hope however small and to each other always.
6. RONNIE F reviews for True Colors
Heart-wrenching great story!!
This story would interest and appeal to so many on different levels, I just can’t begin to decide how to sing its praises! The root of it is about love and family, and the frailties and strengths. The search, and finding it in different ways and recognizing it. And faith in it. If you are a horse lover, read this book. If you’ve ever considered someone serving time and maybe being innocent this will effect you, and I cried throughout a lot of this book. As someone who spent a lot of my life working with children, and seeing how a teacher taking that extra step to help a troubled child could help so much, you will love this story!! I can’t wait to read another of her books!
7. JOSEPH J.TRUNCALE reviews for True Colors
No doubt, fans of Kristen Hannah will enjoy reading this compelling novel.
First off, this type of novel is not usually the kind of book I like to read, being more into Spy, Detective, Western and adventure type books; however, for some strange I decided to finish reading this book after beginning the first page.
I found this book to be mildly interesting. It is about a family who is dealing with various issues. Basically, it is a novel about a man who lost his wife when his three daughters were young and now, he is trying his best to raise them in spite of the many conflicts and issues involved. The writer knows how to weave a story to keep you turning the pages, which is why once I started reading it I had to finish it.
I never give away too much information when reviewing any kind of novel; however, if you are a fan of Kristin Hannah’s novels you may want to check out this book.
Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Zen Poetry Moments: Haiku and Senryu for special occasions).
8. CINDY ADAIR reviews for True Colors
What a storyteller!
I. Loved. This. Book.
Strong characters, complicated relationships, deep family connections, prejudice, acceptance, and love in all its forms. This book is written by a masterful storyteller and has so many layers to it.
It is the story of a bitter ranch owner and his three headstrong daughters who work together and at odds to keep the ranch from going under. Enter a stranger who works hard as a newly hired ranchhand. The problem? He is Native American (enter prejudice), falls for the youngest daughter (bringing suspicion to join with jealousy), and gets accused of murder.
Hopes and dashed hopes rise and fall like a roller coaster in this story. Trust and love between sisters is torn apart and put back together. Emotions are raw. How can anyone recover from past mistakes?
What a story! If you like books dealing with family dynamics, then don’t miss this book!
9. THERESA ALAN reviews for True Colors
The beginning of this novel reminded me of the TV show Yellowstone—the stern father who won’t sell even a few acres of his land, even though it would end his economic insecurity. Winona is the oldest, and she’s a super smart lawyer who “deals” with stress by overeating, and then beats herself up constantly for being a big girl. It’s hard to read about a character who’s always calling herself fat—I know we women do it to ourselves all the time, but it would be great if we talked to ourselves the way we talked to our friends. Winona hopes she can win her father’s approval by using her smarts to help the ranch out, but he only values people who are great at doing ranch-type stuff, like riding horses and barrel racing. That is the expertise of the youngest sister, Vivi Ann, who is beautiful and has an optimistic view of life—at least at the beginning of the book.
The middle sister, Aurora, is married to a dull but what she thinks is safe man and has two kids. The three sisters are torn apart by who falls in love with whom. There is prejudice and lack of justice and misunderstandings, but at least at the end of this Kristin Hannah novel, I wasn’t completely depressed, which was nice.
I love stories about sisters. I have one sister, and we’ve never come close to falling for the same guy. We’re also city girls with limited horse-riding experience, but sisterhood is the same whether you live on a ranch in a small town or opt for the city life. This is ultimately an enjoyable read.
10. CHRIS reviews for True Colors
This author, she just never fails to disappoint.
What an unusual heartbreaking and heartwarming story about family living on a legacy farm in a small town. Three sisters, all different in personality. Loss of their mother when they were young and now dealing with an embittered father and a property falling on hard times. Horses play a role in this story and who doesn’t like horses?
Such a well rounded story plot! I so enjoyed this read, thus my 5 star rating. Highly recommended.
III. True Colors Quotes by Kristin Hannah
The best book quotes from True Colors by Kristin Hannah
“In the end, what mattered were not the breaks in the chain, but the links.”
“It was true that sometimes the support of only one person could make a difference.”
“Scars were like that, she thought; they faded but never went away completely.”
“Terrible beautiful combination of happiness and pain.”
“Abuse can make an animal mean.”
“The more extreme and the more expressed that passion is, the more unbearable does life seem without it. It reminds us that if passion dies or is denied, we are partly dead and that soon, come what may, we will be wholly so. —”
“Sunlight changed all that, and in May, when the rains paused, bright pink and purple azaleas bloomed overnight, and everywhere was lime-green new growth—on the lawns, in the shoots of fragile leaves along the roadsides”
“wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. —ATTICUS FINCH, FROM HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD ”
“Should that be enough for her? Was she wrong to want passion? To dream of something—someone—more? She’d always imagined love to be turbulent and volatile, an emotion that would sweep her up and break her to pieces and reshape her into someone she couldn’t otherwise have become.”
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
“What is passion? It is surely the becoming of a person. . . . In passion, the body and the spirit seek expression . . . The more extreme and the more expressed that passion is, the more unbearable does life seem without it. It reminds us that if passion dies or is denied, we are partly dead and that soon, come what may, we will be wholly so.”
“She’d always imagined love to be turbulent and volatile, an emotion that would sweep her up and break her to pieces and reshape her into someone she couldn’t otherwise have become.”
“Being alone in a crowd is the worst, I think. Everyone belongs somewhere except you.”
“out of her bag and slid it across the desk. “That’s why I’m giving Noah this one opportunity to save his grade. If he’ll fill this journal”
“kept stepping into the same mud puddle and expecting it to be dry.”
“saving them money and helping them out. “Dad?” she said. “Could you stay”
Excerpted from True Colors by Kristin Hannah
True Colors – Chapter One
1992
The day Vivi Ann had been waiting for—January 25— seemed to take forever to arrive. When it finally came, she woke even earlier than usual. Long before dawn had lightened the night sky, she threw back the covers and got out of bed. In the cold darkness of her room, she dressed in insulated coveralls and a woolen cap. Grabbing a pair of worn leather work gloves, she stepped into big rubber boots and went outside.
Technically she didn’t have to feed the horses. Her latest ranch hand would do it. But since she was too excited to sleep, she figured she might as well do something useful.
Without a moon to guide her, she couldn’t see anything except a ghostly silvered image of her own breath, but if therewas one thing Vivi Ann knew in this world, it was the lay of her father’s land.
Water’s Edge.
More than one hundred years ago, her great- grandfather had homesteaded this property and founded the nearby town of Oyster Shores. Other men had chosen easier, more populated areas, places with easier access, but not Abelard Grey. He had crossed the dangerous plains to get here, lost one son to an Indian raid and another to influenza, but still he’d moved West, lured by a dream to this wild, secluded corner of the Evergreen State. The land he chose, one hundred and twenty- five acres tucked between the warm blue waters of the Hood Canal and a forested hillside, was spectacularly beautiful.
She walked up the small rise toward the barn they’d built ten years ago. Beneath a high, timbered ceiling, a large riding arena was outlined by four- rail fencing; twelve box stalls flanked the east and west sides of the structure. After she opened the huge sliding door, the overhead lights came on with a sound like snapping fingers, and the horses instantly became restless, whinnying to let her know they were hungry. For the next hour, she separated flakes of hay from the bales stacked in the loafing shed, piled them into the rusted wheelbarrow, and moved down the uneven cement aisles. At the last stall, a custom- made wooden sign identified her mare by her rarely used registered name: Clementine’s Blue Ribbon.
“Hey, girl,” she said, unbolting the wooden door and sliding it sideways.
Clem nickered softly and moved toward her, sneaking a bite of hay from the wheelbarrow.
Vivi Ann tossed the two flakes into the iron feeding rack and closed the door behind her. While Clem ate, Vivi Ann stood beside her, stroking the big mare’s silky neck.
“Are you ready for the rodeo, girl?”
The mare nuzzled her side as if in answer, almost knocking Vivi Ann off her feet.
In the years since Mom’s death, Vivi Ann and Clementine had become inseparable. For a while there, when Dad had quit speaking and started drinking, and Winona and Aurora had been busy with high school, Vivi Ann had spent most of her time with this horse. Sometimes, when the grief and emptiness had been too much for Vivi Ann to handle, she’d slipped out of her bedroom and run to the barn, where she’d fall asleep in the cedar shavings at Clem’s hooves. Even after Vivi Ann had gotten older and become popular, she’d still considered this mare her best friend. The deepest of her secrets had been shared only here, in the sweet- smelling confines of the last box stall on the east aisle.
She patted Clem’s neck one last time and left the barn. By the time she reached the house, the sun was a smear of butterscotch-yellow light in the charcoal- gray winter sky. From this vantage point, she could see the steel-gray waters of the Canal and the jagged, snow-covered peaks of the distant mountains.
When she stepped into the shadowy farm house, she could hear the telltale creaking of floorboards and knew her father was up. She went into the kitchen, set three places at the table and then started breakfast. Just as she put a plate of pancakes into the oven to warm, she heard him come into the dining room. Pouring him a cup of coffee, doctoring it with sugar, she took it to him.
He took it from her without looking up from his Western Horseman magazine.
She stood there a moment, wondering what she could say that would start a conversation.
Dressed in his usual work clothes—well- worn Wrangler jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, with a saucer- sized silver belt buckle and leather gloves tucked in his waistband—he looked like he did every morning. And yet there was something different, too: a subtle collection of lines or wrinkles that aged his face.
The years since Mom’s death had been unkind to him, sharpening his features and adding shadows where none belonged, both in his eyes and in the fleshy bags beneath. His spine had curved; it was the mark of a farrier, he said, the natural result of a lifetime spent hammering nails into horses’ hooves, but loss had played a part in that curving of his spine, too. Vivi Ann was certain of it. The weight of an unexpected loneliness had reshaped him as surely as the hours he’d spent hunched at work. The only time he really stood tall anymore was when he was in public, and she knew how much it pained him to appear unbowed by his life.
He sat down at the table and read his magazine while Vivi Ann readied and served breakfast.
“Clem’s made some awesome practice runs this month,” she said, taking her place across from him. “I really think we have a chance of winning the rodeo in Texas.”
“Where’s the toast?”
“I made pancakes.”
“Fried eggs need toast. You know that.”
“Mix them in with the hash browns. We’re out of bread.”
Dad sighed heavily, obviously irritated. He looked pointedly at the empty place setting on the table. “You seen Travis this morning?”
Vivi Ann glanced through the window toward the barn. There was no sign of their ranch hand anywhere. No tractor out and running, no wheelbarrow by the barn door. “I fed the horses already. He’s probably out fixing that fence.”
“You picked another winner with that one. If you’d quit res-cuin’ every hurt horse between here and Yelm, we wouldn’t need no help around here at all. And the truth is we can’t afford it.”
“Speaking of money, Dad . . . I need three hundred bucks for the rodeo this week and the coffee can is empty.”
He didn’t respond.
“Dad?”
“I had to use that money to pay the hay bill.”
“It’s gone?”
“The tax bill just came, too.”
“So we’re in trouble,” Vivi Ann said, frowning. She’d heard it before, of course, had always known there wasn’t much money, but for the first time, it really hit home. She understood suddenly why Winona was always harping about saving money for taxes. She cast an upward glance at her dad. He sat hunched forward, with his elbows on the table. Her sisters would have seen that as rude; Vivi Ann was sure she knew better. “Your back hurting you again?”
He didn’t answer, didn’t even acknowledge the question.
She got up, went into the kitchen, and got him some ibuprofen, setting the pills gently on the table between them.
His splayed farrier’s hand closed over them.
“I’ll find a way to get the money, Dad. And I’ll win this week. Maybe as much as two thousand bucks. Don’t you worry.”
They finished the rest of the meal in silence, with him reading his magazine. When he was done, he pushed back from the table and stood up. Reaching for the sweat- stained brown felt cowboy hat that hung on a hook by the door, he said, “Make me proud.”
“I will. ’Bye, Dad.”
After he left, Vivi Ann sat there, feeling unsettled.
For most of her twenty- four years she’d been like a leaf on the water, just floating along, following what ever current came her way. She’d tried changing direction a few times, but every attempt (like community college) had ended quickly, with her returning to this land.
She loved it here, plain and simple. She loved being around the horses, training them, and passing her expertise on to the bright- eyed girls who idolized her riding ability. She loved that everyone in town knew who she was and respected her and her family. She even loved the weather. Lots of folks complained about the gray days that followed each other, one after another, from November to April, but she didn’t mind at all. No rain, no rainbows. That was her motto, and had been since she was twelve years old, a girl standing beside a freshly dug grave, trying to make sense of an incomprehensible loss. Then, she’d told herself that life was short and having fun was what mattered.
Now, though, it was time for her to grow up. Water’s Edge needed her for once, instead of the other way around. She wasn’t sure exactly how to make a change. Business and planning were hardly her strong suits, but she was smarter than people gave her credit for being. All she had to do was think about it.
But first she needed to borrow three hundred dollars from one of her sisters.
She’d tell them it would be a good investment.
Winona liked running the show. Any show; every show. And not from the sidelines, either. In college, all it had taken was one constitutional law class, and she’d glimpsed her future. Now, at twenty- seven, she had her life pretty much as she wanted it. Not completely, of course (she was unmarried, not dating, childless, and struggling with her weight), but pretty much. She was far and away the most successful attorney in Oyster Shores. It was common knowledge that she was fair, opinionated, and smart. Everyone said she was a good person to have on your side. Winona valued her reputation almost as much as she did her education. Dad and Vivi Ann might worship at the altar of their land, but Winona had a broader religion. For her, it was the community that mattered and the people who lived here. It was okay that Vivi Ann was the beautiful heart of town; Winona strove to be it…
….
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