As an unwilling only child, I have been fascinated my entire life with stories of large, sprawling, emotional families, to the point where cutting my list down to 5 was extremely difficult. I’ve written for almost as long—ever since I realized, somewhere around second grade, that someone had to write all those books I took out of the library. Why couldn’t it be me? Historical fiction is my favorite to both read and write, and I have recently begun writing a series set in my native Philadelphia.
I almost chose Pride and Prejudice, but although the Bennet sisters are more numerous, the Dashwoods have a more interesting and complex family dynamic. Eleanor, the eldest, keeps her thoughts and feelings well hidden, while Marianne, the middle sister, is all surface—beautiful, emotional, unrestrained in her words and actions, she couldn’t be more different. In combination with the youngest, Margaret, they squabble and misunderstand and pull against each other on the way to their assorted happy endings, but they never stop deeply caring for one another.
'The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste' Virginia Woolf
Jane Austen's subtle and witty novel of secrets and suppression, lies and seduction, brilliantly portrays a world where rigid social convention clashes with the impulses of the heart. It tells the story of two very different sisters who find themselves thrown into an unkind world when their father dies. Marianne, wild and impulsive, falls dangerously in love, while Elinor suffers her own private heartbreak but conceals her true feelings, even from those closest to her.
Little Women is possibly the first sister book most of us read. Beautifully characterized, each sister is distinct, and while the March family is very much in the world, it is also very much them against the world. The sisters always pull together in the end, even when they disagree. Even when Amy burns Jo's book. Though as a writer, I will never forgive her for that, and also as a writer, that was a huge red flag to Amy’s character which I think should have been explored more deeply.
Louisa May Alcott shares the innocence of girlhood in this classic coming of age story about four sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.
In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy are responsible for keeping a home while their father is off to war. At the same time, they must come to terms with their individual personalities-and make the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It can all be quite a challenge. But the March sisters, however different, are nurtured by their wise and beloved Marmee, bound by their love for each other and the feminine…
Orphaned Gillian and Sally Owens grew up with their magical aunts, but they come to womanhood with very different ideas about love and magic. Still, the bond of being sisters is the only one they can count on when things get tough—as they do. That’s when they discover that sisterhood (and reaching out to other women-as-sisters) is at least as strong as magic. (Also, while the movie has a stellar cast, it’s more of a Cliffs Notes guide to the book—there’s so much more depth to Hoffman’s writing).
*25th Anniversary Edition*-with an Introduction by the Author!
The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, Magic Lessons, and The Book of Magic.
For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and…
I have a hard time separating this book from its movie. But despite how visually stunning the film is, it can never do justice to the complicated relationship between precocious, wrong-headed Briony and her older sister, Cecilia in the same way as McEwan’s prose. It’s difficult to understand, until the end, that it’s not just Cecilia’s life—along with that of Robbie, her friend and would-be lover—that is turned upside-down by Briony's accusation.
On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl's imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a…
A recent read for me, and an unforgettable one. Homegoing is a family saga stemming from two African half-sisters who never meet. This beautifully written book delves deeply into difficult topics and leaves the reader feeling as if they have undergone the same long and arduous journey.
Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself.…
Ava has always been poor, so she doesn't think the Great Depression will change anything. But when her mother dies and her coal miner husband loses his job, Ava's certainty falters. The last thing she needs is a letter from her estranged sister, asking for the impossible. Claire has everything she could ever want, except the child she promised her husband. When her sister's life falls apart, she reaches out to help—and finds the missing piece of her own marriage. With everything at stake, Ava must choose: give up one child to save the rest or keep the family together and risk losing it all.
From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list.
When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?
Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…
"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author
When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.
With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…
