Sibling stories Archives

The Dutch House: A Novel

by Ann Patchett

I love sibling stories and meaty family sagas, as well as stories told with a reflective, wistful tone. This one delivers on all counts. Cyril Conroy means to surprise his wife with the Dutch House, a grand old mansion outside of Philadelphia. But a symbol of wealth and success for some is a symbol of greed and excess to others—including, crucially, Cyril's wife—and the family falls apart over the purchase. In alternating timelines, we get the whole story, over five decades, from Cyril's son Danny. The audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks.

The Most Fun We Ever Had

by Claire Lombardo

I love a good family saga, so I've been meaning to read this. To be honest, I was intimidated by the length, but when a friend assured me it doesn't drag and that Lombardo's authorial voice is gold, I picked it right up and read it in three days (and it's a 500-pager, so that's saying something!) This is the story of a married couple and their four grown daughters. In the opening pages, one daughter reveals a huge family secret, and the novel tracks what happens in the next year of every family member's life.

Clear Light of Day

by Anita Desai

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. James Mustich in his 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die recommends this as a "moving and atmospheric novel" about two sisters who clearly love each other, but whose relationship is strained, caring for their autistic brother at home. The novel flashes back from Old Delhi to their childhood in independence-era India. This is very much a family novel, but one that lives in history's shadow.

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

Finally, a follow-up to Bennett’s smashing debut The Mothers—and it’s worth the wait. Identical twins Desiree and Stella grew up in a town so small it doesn’t appear on maps. They’re closer than close, so Desiree is shocked when Stella vanishes one night after deciding to sacrifice her past—and her relationship with her family—in order to marry a white man, who doesn’t know she’s Black. Desiree never expects to see her sister again. The twins grow up, make lives for themselves, and raise daughters—and it’s those daughters who bring the sisters together again. It’s a reunion Stella both longs for and fears, because she can’t reveal the truth without admitting her whole life is a lie. Bennett expertly weaves themes of family, race, identity, and belonging into one juicy, unputdownable novel spanning five turbulent decades.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors

by Kawai Strong Washburn

Everyone is raving about this, from the New York Times to Tommy Orange to the friend that just texted me last week telling me I had to read it. From the publisher: "In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends. Nainoa's family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods—a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart."

The Arsonists’ City

by Hala Alyan

File this one under "What Should I Read Next made me do it." When I recommended Alyan's debut to an upcoming WSIRN guest, I was reminded that she had a new book out, published in March. This new novel is significantly longer than Salt Houses, clocking in at nearly 500 pages and 20 hours of listening time, but I'm so glad I downloaded the audiobook anyway. I was quickly swept up in the story of the complicated Nasr family, with its Syrian mother, Lebanese father, and three adult children flung across the globe. If you enjoyed Marjan Kamali's The Stationery Shop, I urge you to consider The Arsonists' City for your TBR. Alyan's story, while a bit edgier (I'm thinking specifically of drug use), has a similar feel. Leila Buck's narration was outstanding.

The Latecomer

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

This is the decades-long story of a wealthy Brooklyn family and their triplets—the smart one, the weird one, and the girl—conceived with the help of IVF. For a bevy of reasons this family never quite gelled, and the siblings carry not a trace of affection for each other. Everything changes when the triplets reach college age, and their mother, yearning for some semblance of familial love, decides to thaw the fourth and only remaining embryo and have another child. The arrival of that child—the latecomer—blows up the whole family. An unexpected bonus was the thread of modern art that runs through the book: I googled so many artists and works along the way. Whispersync narration available.

The Burgess Boys

by Elizabeth Strout

From the publisher: "Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever."

Flight: A Novel

by Lynn Steger Strong

This intimate family drama unfolds over the course of three days, beginning on December 22. We learn that it's been eight months since the family matriarch died, leaving behind only her house in upstate New York, which her three children all want—or want the proceeds from. Daughter Kate desperately wants to raise her children in the family home, but her brothers think they need the money from its sale just as badly. Now just before Christmas, the adult children and grandchildren gather in that home, and it's only a matter of time before their long-held resentments bubble to the surface. A story of loss, privilege, and family friction, but also of love and belonging.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

by Aimee Bender

From the publisher: "On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents' attention, bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother's emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern."

We Are the Brennans

by Tracey Lange

Five years ago, Sunday Brennan left her small New York hometown, abandoning her parents, three brothers, and devoted fiancé with no explanation. In the present, after a wildly uncharacteristic episode of binge drinking lands her in the hospital, her brother convinces her to come home for a little while to recuperate and help with the Irish American family's struggling bar. Not everyone is thrilled to see the prodigal daughter, and her reappearance eventually causes all kinds of long-held family secrets to finally come pouring out. I loved this for its portrayal of complex family dynamics (especially among the four siblings), its sweet tale of young love, the ever-interesting setting of the bar, and its hopeful—but not tidy—resolution.

Chirp

A Place for Us

by Fatima Farheen Mirza

This slow-burning debut about an Indian-American Muslim family skillfully probes themes of identity, culture, family, and generational change. "I am to see to it that I do not lose you," reads the epigraph (Whitman), and the story wonders if, despite our best intentions, one might nevertheless wound someone they love deeply enough to lose them forever. The story opens with the oldest daughter’s wedding: the bride scans the crowd for her beloved yet rebellious brother, hoping he'll appear despite being estranged from the family for years. Through a series of flashbacks, and in rotating points of view, Mirza examines the series of small betrayals that splintered the family, skillfully imbuing quotidian events—a chance meeting at a party, a dinner conversation about a spelling test—with deep significance, showing how despite their smallness, they irrevocably alter the course of the family’s life. The last section is a stunner, but grab the tissues first. For fans of Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed and Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart.

Marrying the Ketchups

by Jennifer Close

A family drama centered on a close-knit Chicago family and the Irish American bar and restaurant that's been in their family for generations. It seems every Sullivan family member is at a crisis point, and the reader witnesses them working through their life-shifting career and relationship issues against the backdrop of the bar and restaurant, and the Cubs' unexpected World Series-winning season. If you enjoyed We Are the Brennans or The Most Fun We Ever Had, give this one a close look.

The Last Romantics

by Tara Conklin

I love a story within a story: this novel begins with Fiona Skinner, renowned poet, revealing the story behind one of her famous poems—which leads to the tale of herself and her siblings. Early tragedy forged a strong bond between the four Skinner children, but it also broke them in ways that don’t become apparent for many years. Decades later, another unfolding tragedy makes them question everything they know about their family. The story feels Intimate, yet expansive, while exploring the power of stories, and the bonds that keep us together. A sweeping family saga.

Hello Beautiful

by Ann Napolitano

I utterly adored my first Napolitano read. (I remain too terrified of plane crash stories to read Dear Edward.) The author describes her homage to Little Women as "the story of one young man, four sisters, the secrets that threaten to shatter their family, and a love powerful enough to heal it.” I fell completely in love with the Padavano family, and enjoyed seeing how the characters grew and evolved over the decades and generations. The Chicago setting was also a lot of fun. (I did so much googling for places and locations!) Readers, there are A LOT of difficult things in these pages: it might break your heart, but know that ultimately, it's a redemption story.

Sibling stories