Review: Sisters by Daisy Johnson
Sisters by Daisy Johnson was the October pick for The Feminist Book Club Paris. Released in 2020, this slim novel of just 182 pages is part horror, part psychological thriller, with a serving of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. Focusing on two sisters, September and July, who are born ten months apart, there's a good chance that this book will get under your skin and stay there.
Events begin under a dark cloud, with September and July in the car with their mother Sheela, fleeing Oxford for the desolate Yorkshire countryside. The reader quickly understands that something terrible has happened and is left to follow this hazy thread for the remainder of the novel. The relationship between the sisters created a lot of unease amongst book club members: they are preternaturally close, with a seemingly telepathic connection. The older sibling is September, who is willful, daring, and fearless, while July timidly follows, constantly seeking approval no matter the cost. "She tethered me. Not to the world but to herself."
For most of the novel, July narrates events in the first person. Occasionally, Sheela steps in to offer a third-person narrative. She is a children's book author and illustrator whose characters closely resemble September and July. She is also struggling with depression and reveals shocking glimpses of the abuse suffered at the hands of the girls’ father Peter, who is now dead. Daisy Johnson presents the reader with several feminist questions through Sheela: how to be a person while also being a mother, navigating a career while dealing with mental health issues, how to handle past traumas that follow you into the present.
The reader never hears from September directly. Instead, they must form their impression from the information offered by the two women closest to her. It is an unsettling portrait, with September appearing as abusive, controlling, and manipulative. Her behavior plays out against a creepy backdrop, the ironically named Settle House, an uncomfortable location that must carry the burden of its unhappy inhabitants and their combined histories.
Reading Sisters is a little like bumbling along in the dark, trying to find a source of light and make sense of things. Whether you see the reveal coming or not - this reader did not - doesn't make it any less shocking. The truth appears in frightening flashes: the mean girls at school, July's public humiliation, September's thirst for revenge, a violent storm. On the first read, Sisters reaches an unsettling conclusion that will have you scratching your head. If you dare to read it a second time, the novel acquires an extra level of terror as you know what lurks around the corner.
This is my first Daisy Johnson novel and it has left me wanting more. I think she has done an excellent job of taking the familiar and creating pure terror. As women, violence is always closer than we’d like it to be, and Sisters reminded me of that. The pacing is tight, the plot is twisted, and the writing is lyrical. This book is for anyone who loves the horror genre, with definite shades of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King throughout while being wholly original. Warning: you might have nightmares.
Other titles by Daisy Johnson:
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