Sisters by Daisy Johnson

Sisters by Daisy Johnson
Published in: 2020
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]

This ARC was provided by Vintage Jonathan Cape (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

One word review – Claustrophobic, two word review Menacingly Claustrophobic.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Born just ten months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior—until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.

Sisters is a one-two punch of wild fury and heartache—a taut, powerful, and deeply moving account of sibling love and what happens when two sisters must face each other’s darkest impulses.

My Thoughts: Having previously read and loved Everything Under by Daisy Johnson I was delighted and slightly scared to be returning to the world of her imagination. While I didn’t fall in love with this the way I did Everything Under this is still a strong novel.

First of let’s talk about that cover it is brilliant and really captures the fractured and overlapping lives of the “Sisters”. It gives you the sense of disorientation and confusion that is so much a part of this story.

Secondly the story – the writing is beautiful, eerily poetic and it manages to maintain an underlying hint of menace even when things seem to be straightforward. The relationship the sisters share with each other and their mother is brilliantly captured. It is easy to see how naïve July is held almost completely under September’s spell. Instead of the usual sibling rivalry this relationship is about the intensity when it is just you and the closest person to you against the world, a powerful but also isolating feeling.

Who would like this? I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Everything Under and anyone looking for a unsettling read which gets inside your head without having to describe anything in overtly graphic details.

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