What's it like to be one of identical twins? This book describes one such relationship beautifully, ensuring that the characters of parents, friends and lovers all play their parts in revealing the poignant, funny and spine-tingling moments of a pair of sisters who are as close as 2 people can be.
Daisy and Violet both have psychic powers. Their school days are marked by this difference, making their classmates either curious or aggressive. Their mother is withdrawn and ineffectual, their father is pre-occupied and distant, so the sisters rely on each other. As they grow into adulthood, Violet embraces her special senses, using them to gain notoriety whilst Daisy denies them so strongly that she even changes her name.
When Violet has a 'sense' that disaster will befall their home town, the sisters are drawn into a public world that Daisy abhors. Will the disaster happen? How will Violet cope if her powers prove less than accurate in such a publicly humiliating way? And how will Daisy live with the consequences of her actions, actions that betray everything she cherishes?
Curtis Sittenfeld describes twin-ship with depths and compassion; she expresses both the frustration of never being absolutely unique individuals (which most of us take for granted) with the emotional closeness that can only come from such a relationship. The characters in this book are vividly described, even when they inhabit only a small part of the story. Clever, amusing and gentle, this is a well told and page-turning story.
Recommended
'Sisterland' is published by TransWorld Books, ISBN978-0-55277-659-2
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