7 books that explore the messy, complicated reality of sisterhood

7 books that explore the messy, complicated reality of sisterhood

Credit: Courtesy or publishers

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7 books that explore the messy, complicated reality of sisterhood

By Amy Beecham

9 months ago

5 min read

Sisterly relationships can be loving and empowering, but they can also be messy and complicated. Here are seven of the best books that perfectly explore that devoted but often difficult family dynamic.


As an only child, I’ve always romanticised the idea of growing up in a house full of sisters, Little Women-style. What I’ve learned from those who have grown up with sisters is that, yes, there can be closeness and care, but more often than not there are messy, tense and dysfunctional moments that can prove difficult to navigate.

Trauma and conflict within families has always been considered taboo, but the novels we read and the TV shows we watch are increasingly exploring more complicated dynamics, particularly between sisters. From Brit Bennett’s critically acclaimed The Vanishing Half to Coco Mellors’ newly released Blue Sisters, here are seven books that will entertain and comfort anyone who has grown up with a sibling (as well as those who haven’t).


Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

The Blue sisters have always been exceptional – and exceptionally different.

Avery, a strait-laced lawyer living in London, is the typical eldest daughter, though she’s hiding a secret that could undo her perfect life forever. Bonnie was a boxer but, following a devastating defeat, she’s been working as a bouncer in LA – until a reckless act one night threatens to drive her out of the city. And Lucky, the rebellious youngest, is a model in Paris and her hard-partying ways are finally catching up with her. Then there was Nicky, the beloved fourth sister, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie and Lucky reeling.

When the three of them reunite in New York to stop the sale of their childhood home, they find that it’s only by returning to each other that they can navigate their grief, addiction and heartbreak and learn to fall in love with life again.

Shop Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors at Bookshop.org, £16.99

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Sunset by Jessie Cave

Sunset by Jessie Cave

Ruth and Hannah are sisters. Bonded by love and friendship, they are perplexingly different characters. Hannah is radiant, organised and hard working. Ruth is forever single and totally aimless. Together they are invincible.

Every summer they go on a budget holiday together where they bicker, laugh, fight and make up. But this time is different. Something bad happens. And now everything is changed forever.

This bittersweet love story is about needing someone else as much as they need you. It is an ode to our most powerful bonds, how they build us and break us and how, when all seems lost, we can find joy in the most unexpected places.

Shop Sunset by Jessie Cave at Bookshop.org, £8.99

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The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

Longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize, The Water Cure tells the story of Grace, Lia and Sky, who live in an abandoned hotel on a sun-bleached island in a poisoned sea. Their parents raised them there to keep them safe, to make them good. The world beyond the water is contaminated and men are the contamination. But one day three strangers wash ashore – men who stare at the sisters hungrily, helplessly. Men who bring trouble.

Shop The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh at Bookshop.org, £9.99

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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small Black community and running away at age 16, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her Black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, their fates remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Shop The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett at Bookshop.org, £10

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All Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky

All Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky

On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronised by energy healers, aspiring actors and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions – nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has always been under the spell of the alluring and rebellious Debbie and, despite her own hesitations, she has always said yes to nights like these. That is, until Debbie disappears.

Shop All Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky at Amazon.co.uk, £10.99

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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it’s as if the world has lit up around him.

With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.

Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?

Shop Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano at Bookshop.org, £16.99

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All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Elf and Yoli are two smart, loving sisters. Elf is a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die.

Yoli is divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive.

When Elf’s latest suicide attempt leaves her hospitalised weeks before her highly anticipated world tour, Yoli is forced to confront the impossible question of whether it is better to let a loved one go.

Shop All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews at Bookshop.org, £9.99

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Images: courtesy of publishers

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