Fabulous Fiction Firsts #241

Thu, 02/10/2011 - 3:38pm by muffy

If you let a snarky remark like "Readable, upmarket, non-mold-breaking escapism" to keep you away from Eleanor Brown's ,The Weird Sisters then it really is a shame.

I am thick in the middle of it and can't put it down but I can't wait until I'm done to blog it either. So here it is, the blurb from the publisher...

"The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected."

So far, I have to agree with one of the reviewers, "There are no false steps in this debut novel: the humor, lyricism, and realism characterizing... will appeal to fans of good modern fiction as well as stories of family and of the Midwest." Oh, BTW, Weird is set in Buckeye territory but we won't hold that against it.

Listen to the NPR review and author interview. And don't be surprised with the buzz around this book big time in the weeks to come.

In the meantime while you are waiting for your copy, read Short Girls - homegrown and Maize-and-Blue all the way.