Reading Sisters is a little like bumbling along in the dark, trying to find a source of light and make sense of things. Her behavior plays out against a creepy backdrop, the ironically named Settle House, an uncomfortable location that must carry the burden of its unhappy inhabitants and their combined histories. It is an unsettling portrait, with September appearing as abusive, controlling, and manipulative. Instead, they must form their impression from the information offered by the two women closest to her. The reader never hears from September directly.

Daisy Johnson presents the reader with several feminist questions through Sheela: how to be a person while also being a mother, navigating a career while dealing with mental health issues, how to handle past traumas that follow you into the present. She is also struggling with depression and reveals shocking glimpses of the abuse suffered at the hands of the girls’ father Peter, who is now dead. She is a children's book author and illustrator whose characters closely resemble September and July. Occasionally, Sheela steps in to offer a third-person narrative. Not to the world but to herself.'įor most of the novel, July narrates events in the first person. The older sibling is September, who is willful, daring, and fearless, while July timidly follows, constantly seeking approval no matter the cost. The relationship between the sisters created a lot of unease amongst book club members: they are preternaturally close, with a seemingly telepathic connection. The reader quickly understands that something terrible has happened and is left to follow this hazy thread for the remainder of the novel. Focusing on two sisters, September and July, who are born ten months apart, there's a good chance that this book will get under your skin and stay there.Įvents begin under a dark cloud, with September and July in the car with their mother Sheela, fleeing Oxford for the desolate Yorkshire countryside. Released in 2020, this slim novel of just 182 pages is part horror, part psychological thriller, with a serving of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. Sisters by Daisy Johnson was the October pick for The Feminist Book Club Paris.

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