“This the year something else is the terror.”

Ooh, this is an interesting one; one very much for the gothic lovers amongst us and those that crave psychological suspense. It doesn’t surprise me that this novel from Daisy – the first that I have read of this much-heralded new writer – has been compared to the likes of Shirley Jackson and Daphne du Maurier.

Perhaps that’s a rather heady comparison (Daphne and Shirley were masters of this craft, after all) but Sisters is certainly a story that looks to conjure up that same blur of reality and magical realism, and a sense of the otherworldly.

The sisters the novel speaks of are September and July – September being the elder one by 10 months – two teenage girls who have been suddenly pulled out of school following an (unspecified) accident and whisked away by the mother to a cottage from their youth, one that belongs to their aunt, for rest and recuperation.

The girls’ mother, it seems, is appalled and distraught, communicating little with her girls; the girls, it seems, are rather left to themselves to sort things out between them. But theirs is a dark, toxic sisterly bond and soon their relationship spirals into dangerous and even deadly territory…

“September was the ringleader but July was the one who suffered.”

What emerges in Daisy’s writing are two key elements that I really responded to: the sick, symbiotic relationship between the sisters. There is psychological bullying, yes, but also manipulation and an eerie form of syncopation and mutuality between the girls:

“There is something leaving me and I realise with a shock it is my virginity. Going, going, gone. Taken in a second-hand way. September is having sex and – because really two means one – I am having sex too. I close my eyes, ball my fists into the sand.”

There is no doubt that the development and representation of this sisterhood is a critical success in the book, but I also loved the way Daisy was able to develop the cottage itself as a living organism, as if that too was part of the ebb and flow of the dynamic of the three women who lived inside it. It is THIS element that brings in the comparison with the masters because this world creation was what set Shirley and Daphne above everyone else, as if the worlds they created were too involved in the gothic webs they weaved:

“She has always known that houses are bodies and that her body is a house in more ways than most. She had housed those beautiful daughters, hadn’t she, and she had housed depression all through her life like a smaller, weightier child.”

This weaving of women’s bodies, sex, sisterhood with the physical world reminded me a lot of surrealist works by the likes of Dorothea Tanning and Frida Kahlo. Intriguing and a novel that stands out in its originality in comparison with other publications this year.

Beautifully written in the first person perspectives of Sheela and July. Something awful has happened to September and July back in Oxford which has forced their move to an isolated cottage somewhere near Whitby. Daisy Johnson weaves this story gently sucking the reader in. The reader knows they're going to find out the awful thing that happened but I didn't want to. I just wanted the book to carry on without shattering the illusions that the author was building. A lovely read, very different to what I was expecting, but brilliant just the same.

Sisters is a taut gothic novella about close sisters September and July who escape to the North York Moors after of an incident of school bullying spirals out of control.

There are echoes of Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill here, and plenty of gothic conventions at play. While this does make the plot pretty predictable, it also allows Johnson's writing to really sing. The prose is freefalling, chaotic, relentlessly building a haunting and unstable atmosphere. It's an intensely claustrophobic read, tightly wound round the question of what happened to July? - the kind of book which makes you feel as if you have been caught in the eye of a storm.

Sisters is an atmsopheric and spellbinding take on a traditional gothic theme.

Daisy Johnson's stunning second novel tells the story of two sisters, July and September, born just ten months apart. Understandably, they are inseparable, with the elder sister being completely domineering over the younger. They live with their mother, who suffers from bouts of depression and who, as a result, sometimes struggles to care for her daughters. When July's school bullies take things too far, September steps in to make sure they get their comeuppance. What happens next means they have to move to Settle House in North Yorkshire.

The writing in Sisters is stunning and compelling. It does switch between narrators but both are equally as interesting and clearly distinguished.

It's difficult to review this title without giving too much away but Daisy Johnson has done an excellent job of bringing a family to life and exploring an intense relationship between two sisters. The ultimate ending was excellent, heartbeaking and unexpected.

Many thanks to Vintage UK for the chance to read and review this book.

Sisters is an intense and unsettling read which deserves to be one of the biggest books of 2020. A compelling look at the twisted relationship of sisters July and September, and the run-down house they move into with their mother when their life back in Oxford falls apart. A brutal, haunting novel in the most brilliant way.

This tells the story of sisters, July and September. July is 10 months younger than September but they do everything together and are inseparable. Their mother is a distant character who they have little contact with even though they live with her. September is the more dominant sister and makes July do things that she doesn't really want to do. September has quite a cruel streak to her and often forces July to hurt herself as part of the games that they play, yet July would go to the ends of the earth for September. Overriding this closeness is an event that happened at school that has bought the girls and their mum to the Settle house, a desolate, unloved, bleak home owned by their Aunt Ursa and rented to them.

I can't say much more as it will spoil the story, but what I will say is that the end twist I was only just about ahead of, and even then it had only been a passing thought. The writing style I found tricky to get my head around to start with as it consisted of short sentences that felt disjointed but I see it was a deliberate writing choice to demonstrate how the characters feel. The elements of gothic fiction in this novel are everywhere and at times I felt like I was reading Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' - all the elements are there .

Once I got hooked into this book I didn't stop reading it and couldn't put it down - it's the first book I have finished in two days in years! Enjoy!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters is moving, dark and keeps you on your toes. In a similar vein to Elmet, the backstory is drip-fed to readers, leaving us to piece together the reasons why July, September and Sheela have moved to this dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. I love stories about sibling relationships and this depicted a twisted codependency that leaves the two sisters inseparable.

I thought Daisy Johnson's last novel, Everything Under should have won the Booker Prize, so I was very much looking forward to reading 'Sisters'. Thankfully, it did not let me down. What was odd was that prior to reading this I had just finished Polly Crosby's - The Illustrated Child . There is a lot of similarity in the books both in themes and set up – both have parents who are artists who have including their children in their books, both feature one parent escaping to the country with the children; and both are not as straightforward as you might think.

And, that is the problem with trying to review either book. It is hard to say much about what happens in the books without spoiling them. Sisters is, at its heart, a book about just that – sisters. It is about sibling rivalry, envy, love, jealousy and about a childhood promise forged between them. It also touches on grief, mental illness and much more.

Sisters doesn't quite have a lyrical splendour of Everything Under, but still marks Johnson as one f the best young writers out there at this moment in time.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for review.

Daisy Johnson is a truly remarkable writer, and ‘Sisters’ is a short, sharp shock to the system.
The phrase ‘genre-defying’ is bandied about a lot these days, but Johnson’s writing to me really is impossible to define.
In ‘Sisters’ July and September (separated in age by less than a year) have moved with their writer mother from their home in Oxford to the ramshackle Yorkshire house where September was born, following an incident at school. As their mother retreats into the darkness of her room, the sisters are left to fend for themselves. As their relationship becomes ever more entwined and complicated, a shocking truth about the past is revealed, and their future is thrown into disarray.
Johnson has a unique and startling writing style which I can imagine some people struggling with but which I find incredibly effective. She is excellent at depicting the difficult relationship between the sisters- I was reminded at times of the titular ‘Twins’ in Marcy Dermansky’s excellent book as well as the sisters in Audrey Niffenegger’s less enjoyable ‘Her Fearful Symmetry.’
I haven’t yet read Johnson’s previous works, but I am going to order them ASAP following ‘Sisters.’ A haunting, unsettling dark fairytale that will stay with me for a long time!
Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is a tricky book to review. There's no denying that Daisy Johnson's writing is masterful. Her intricate prose flows beautifully, and this is a dark, menacing book which comes through in the writing incredibly well. The prose is dream-like, really, and nightmarish a lot of the time, and I'm not sure that reading was a truly enjoyable experience, but I would still recommend the book to anyone interested in inventive writing styles.

This is the first book I've read by Daisy Johnson and certainly won't be my last. Her whip-sharp yet completely atmospheric writing took me straight into the plot and the characters. And who are they? The wonderfully named teenage sisters, July and September.

This is a story of the unique and intense relationship only sisters can have, especially ones born 10 months apart. Not twins, but linked as if they are. We meet the sisters as they move house with their mother due to an incident in their home town of Oxford. The detail of which is tantalisingly held back until the end, and then spins the whole story on its head when it is revealed.

I could not put this book down, the brooding, often sinister, atmosphere and detailed description kept me wanting more. It brought to mind Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle too, which is only ever going to be a great thing!

This is a wonderful book that keeps its secrets until the end. I loved the way it shifted from psychological thriller to a study of extreme grief. Though it probably isn't quite right for our selection, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to friends.

Long sentences interrupted by dialogue without speech marks, makes the tale of two sisters seem like a lyric sang by an untiring child. September and July are inseparable and their mother distant. After an incident at the girls’ school, the family leaves Oxford for Settle House, situated at the coast in North York Moors.

The strong vivid images evoked by the sensuous language will leave you drunk with emotion as you read through July’s and her mum Sheela’s account of trying to settle into a new environment. They retell the present and the past and the result is eery and disturbing. ‘Sisters’ shows the powerful grip of human connection will often leave scars when severed and will make you wonder what you have just read long after you finish the last page. It’s wonderful and memorable.

September and July are two sisters with a macabre past. After a mysterious incident at school, their mother is forced to relocate the family in an attempt to move on, but darkness seems to follow the sisters everywhere... The bare bones of this plot could be straight out of a commercial thriller, but Daisy Johnson’s beautiful writing elevates it and Sisters becomes an altogether different beast. Johnson is a magnificent writer and I read this book in one sitting because it had me gripped in its talons from the opening. The symbiotic relationship between the sisters is charged with menace and uncertainty. I did see the ‘twist’ regarding the incident coming but this did not dampen my enthusiasm for the book, as Johnson isn’t a writer who relies on schlock to impress her readers. A claustrophobic, neo-gothic oddity with shades of Shirley Jackson, Sisters cements Johnson as one of our brightest contemporary talents.

Sisters September and July are moved cross country with their mother to an old family home after an incident, the details of which are unclear. The book focuses on the girls’ intense relationship while slowly revealing details about what happened before they moved. I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot as I think the slow reveal of the story is part of the book’s appeal.
Daisy Johnson writes in such a poetic and lyrical way that draws you in. Sisters is very similar to Everything Under but, for me, packs more of a punch. The book is an entrancing read brought together with fascinating characters in the two sisters and a chilling setting in form of the old mysterious house.
The comparisons to Shirley Jackson are well deserved. The story is compellingly eery with a stunning, haunting ending. Although a short novel, it’s a great story to dive into and get lost in. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the copy.

I thought this was a fantastic portrayal of the smothering closeness of family. With a build up of tension throughout its an unsettling read but a complete page turner. Five stars.

September and July are sisters but also so much more. September speaks for July, so much so that July barely knows who she is anymore. The girls move across the country with their mother after an unspecified incident and find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. A house that creaks and rumbles and seems to absorb and feed the girl’s claustrophobia. Anyone familiar with the real life story of the silent twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons will see echoes of their story in this book. The girl’s bond is fearsome and excludes their mother who seems to have detached herself and given up on any meaningful relationship with the sisters. This is a brief novel, running in at just under 200 pages, but there’s much to draw from here. The language is beautiful and September and July’s relationship within the setting of the house feels genuinely suffocating. September is a constant lose cannon, an engineer who comes to install the internet finds his tools mysteriously going walkabout while July is struck mute at the possibility of telling him where they are. There’s a real one two sucker punch of an ending which was enough to send this reader leafing back through, searching for clues. This is going to be one of the stand out books of 2020 and I’ve no doubt it’ll appear on many an end of year ‘best of’ list. I’d strongly advise diving into September and July’s intense world, if only for a brief time.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

July and September are sisters. They are also best of friends. Something sinister happened to them back in Oxford, but we don't quite know what. They move to an isolated house with their single mother. She happens to be depressed. There is a lot of love in this book, and not always necessarily of the good kind. But still a deep, felt love. I couldn't put it down.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. Daisy Johnson is a force to be reckoned with. After reading Everything Under, I wasn't sure she could top that phenomenal book. But I was wrong. The book might be short, but don't be fooled. It packs a lot in.

An eerie glimpse into the lives of haunted people, SISTERS is compelling and beautiful.

Born just ten months apart, July and September are as close as twins, never needing anyone but each other. When their single mother moves them to Settle House, a palpable unease slowly emerges, as do a series of unsettling revelations that will keep you reading until the very end.

Multi-faceted in theme and style, SISTERS creeps upon you and is completely absorbing.

Through Fen and Everything Under, Daisy Johnson has demonstrated herself to be one of the most exciting authors writing today, the youngest author to be short listed for the Man Booker Prize. Sisters has solidified this reputation.

Sisters tells the story of July and September who are completely inseparable. September insists they share birthdays, bikes, baths and just about everything else. September is a domineering, menacing figure while July is the mild sibling. They live with their mother, a children's author while their father died when they were young. One day, the family must move suddenly due to reasons we don't discover until late in the book. I don't want to give anymore of the plot away as this was one of the most thrilling reading experiences I can ever remember having and you must discover it for yourself.

Sisters is dripping with menace. Every line has the vague undertone of threat and danger. The relationship between September and July is perhaps one of the most complex relationships ever portrayed in a book. Their love is deep and meaningful but September can be vindictive, cruel and manipulative when she wants to be. She often makes July do things she doesn't want to do. This is just one example of the tools Daisy Johnson utilises to make sure the reader is never sure of where they stand. It leaves you feeling so unsettled. Not many books cause me to feel fear but this was a rare exception.

The ending of this story is beautifully executed. I was certain I knew where the story was going, how it was going to end, but Johnson pulls the rug from under you again and again. I am reticent to call the ending of this story a twist because that cheapens what is a beautifully constructed narrative arc, building to a wonderful crescendo. The ending is spectacular.

This is a book I am going to be buying for and lending to everyone I know for a long time to come. I adored it from start to finish and has confirmed for me that Daisy Johnson is one of the most talented authors writing today. Do not miss out on this book.