NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY
Slate - Daily Candy - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Guardian
(U.K.)
"Novelists get called master storytellers all the time, but Sittenfeld
really is one. . . . What might be most strikingly excellent about
Sisterland is the way Sittenfeld depicts domesticity and
motherhood."--Maggie Shipstead, The Washington Post
"Psychologically vivid . . . Sisterland is a testament to [Curtis
Sittenfeld's] growing depth and assurance as a writer."--Michiko
Kakutani, The New York Times
"[Sittenfeld's] gifts are in full effect with this novel, and she
uses them to create a genuinely engrossing sense of uncertainty and
suspense."--Sloane Crosley, NPR's All Things Considered
Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife and Prep, returns with a
mesmerizing novel of family and identity, loyalty and deception, and the
delicate line between truth and belief.
From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that
they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar
"senses"--innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other
people's secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to
hide them.
Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their
hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic
medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the
suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake
hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished
for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition
that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis
area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi
may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly
approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with
her sister and to face truths about herself she's long tried to deny.
Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking, Sisterland is a beautifully
written novel of the obligation we have toward others, and the
responsibility we take for ourselves. With her deep empathy, keen
wisdom, and unerring talent for finding the extraordinary moments in our
everyday lives, Curtis Sittenfeld is one of the most exceptional voices
in literary fiction today.
Praise for Sisterland
"What's most captivating about Sisterland is the intimate,
intense portrayal of identical twin sisters. . . . [The novel]
unfolds like a good prophecy--inevitable and shocking."--San
Francisco Chronicle
"The accomplished Sittenfeld . . . is as skillful as ever at developing
an intriguing premise and likable characters. . . . Sittenfeld's
affectionate take on sibling rivalry is spot-on."--People
"The power of [Sittenfeld's] writing and the force of her vision
challenge the notion that great fiction must be hard to read. She is a
master of dramatic irony, creating fully realized social worlds before
laying waste to her heroines' understanding of them. . . . Her prose
[is] a rich delight."--The Boston Globe
"Wise and often wickedly entertaining . . . Readers who have
siblings--especially women with sisters--will likely come away feeling
as if the author really is psychic."--USA Today
