Between Sisters (by Cathy Kelly)

I very much liked the two novels I read previously by Cathy Kelly, so was looking forward to reading ‘Between Sisters’. I was given this for Christmas, after adding several of this author’s books to my wish-list. She writes warm contemporary women’s fiction, mostly set in Ireland.

‘Between Sisters’ opens with a prologue set in London, however. A woman called Elsa is involved in a popular TV show, but is worried about her health. The action then switches to Dublin, and it wasn’t until I was over half-way through the book that I realised no further reference had been made to Elsa.

The bulk of the book is about Cassie and Coco, sisters in their thirties. Cassie is married with two teenage daughters, and Coco is single but very involved with her sister’s life. We quickly learn that they were brought up by their grandmother after being abandoned by their mother when Cassie was seven and Coco was just a year old.

The two sisters seem to be doing well in their adult lives, on the whole. Coco runs a vintage clothing shop, which she loves, and Cassie works for a business, juggling home and work life apparently with easy. Yet both of them find it almost impossible to talk about their mother. And it’s gradually becomes clear that they both have a deep-down fear of being left by someone else. So much so that Coco broke off an engagement four years earlier, to the only man she has ever really loved, because she was afraid he would leave her.

Their grandmother Pearl, who brought them up, is a lively lady of 79. They tend to drop in on her when they have problems, or just need a hug, and are clearly very close to her. It’s a picture of a contented family, albeit with one generation missing. For Cassie and Coco’s father (Pearl’s son) apparently never recovered from his wife leaving, and died some years earlier.

There are many other characters in the book, rather too many for me to keep in mind, but even the minor ones are quite well developed. I wondered at first how the very diverse people gradually introduced were going to meet and impact each other’s lives. But it works well.

Part of my problem with remembering who was who is that there are names which look similar: Adriana and Antoinette don’t sound alike, but when reading they look similar lengths, and I regularly confused these two, both of whom caused problems to one or other of the sisters. I was even more confused by Mari and Myra. One of them does not appear until near the end of the book and is quite a significant person for a while, when the action moves - at last - back to London. Then when the other is mentioned a chapter or two later, I was totally confused until I looked back and reminded myself, yet again, who was whom.

It’s a minor gripe, not helped by the fact that, at least in my edition, there was at least one place (possibly two) where the wrong name was given; but that’s an editorial error. My other small criticism is that the author tends to explain things rather too thoroughly. Important events in the past are mentioned more than once; literary references are followed by an explanation; the revelation of how Elsa, in the first chapter, comes into the story is spelled out in far too much detail. I got the point immediately.

There are some other important issues covered in the book. As well as the theme of abandonment (and it recurs in both the sisters’ lives) there are storylines related to addictions. I thought these very well done, with some useful dialogue, and a lack of any kind of judgmentalism or indeed sentimentality.

Overall, I thought ‘Between Sisters’ an excellent book. I read the last 100 or so pages at one sitting, wanting to know how everything would be resolved. Some of the later scenes in the book are very moving. The ending is entirely satisfactory in my view, with most of the threads nicely tied up in a positive way.

Definitely recommended to anyone who enjoys character-based women’s fiction with a bit of a bite.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews