The Sisterhood

by Emily Barr

[Leah]

Elizabeth Greene is devastated when her boyfriend of ten years leaves her for someone else. After a night of drowning her sorrows leads to an unexpected one-night stand, Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and vulnerable.

Helen has just discovered she has a sister she didn’t know she had. Bored with her privileged life in France and driven by a need to gain her parents’ approval, Helen sets out to find her sister and reunite her with her long-lost mother. When her search leads her to Elizabeth the two women become closely linked. But their connection to one another is founded on a dark deception, with the truth having extreme consequences…

Having never read an Emily Barr novel to its finish – I had Cuban Heels once but only got a quarter of the way in until I was fed up. However I saw the beautiful cover of The Sisterhood and the back of the book, the blurb, made me want to read it as soon as I could.

The novel was unputdownable, the way it switched to both girls (and Mary’s, Helens mother) perspective was great. I really wanted to know more about Tom, Helen’s brother) and the revelation about him was a huge surprise. I didn’t see it coming. Both revelations were a huge surprise in fact.

I thought Helens character was great if a little naive and the more she got into Elizabeth’s life the stranger she seemed to act and she got herself out of sticky situations really well, particularly when it looked as if Elizabeth might twig onto what was going on.

Elizabeth was an equally good character, in desperate need of someone when she finds out her boyfriend is gay and then to end up pregnant and alone. It seems that Helen can be the perfect friend for her, the person she needs to help her through her problems.

The ending was just brilliant with all the revelations, and the last chapter was just brilliant. It definitely paved the way for a potential sequel. Although that’s probably just my opinion. I would definitely read it anyway.

Rating: 5/5