The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters
By Eleanor Brown
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011. 320 pgs. Fiction

Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia Andreas are the daughters of a renown Shakespearean expert and grew up in the small college town of Barney. When their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, the three sisters each find themselves moving back home and being forced to face the consequences of the decisions they have made on their way to adulthood. Each of these women seems to be running from the fear that they will never live up to their parents’ expectations, constantly trying to define themselves as an individual, distinct from their other two siblings.

Brown writes with a great deal of heart and insight. The Andreas family is filled with all the complexity of a real family. But what truly makes this novel stand out is the author’s unusual choice to have all three sisters narrate the story using a first person plural voice. This choice creates an intimate and unique reading experience that I found captivating.

CZ