"Sisters" by Daisy Johnson

Sisters

by Daisy Johnson

A review

In the acknowledgments section at the end of the book, Daisy Johnson thanks her mother “for watching horror films she doesn’t really want to watch with [her]”.  I am not surprised. Sisters is a horror story.  Of course, given that Johnson is a Booker-shortlisted author, her latest novel will be admired by many readers who would not generally touch the genre with a barge pole.  But make no mistake – it’s horror alright. 

Sisters starts with that most Gothic of tropes – the haunted house.  Sheela and her two teenage daughters July and September leave Oxford and arrive at a cottage in Yorkshire.  The place is “rankled, bentoutashape, dirtyallover”.  It’s creepy and unwelcoming (literally so… they cannot find the key supposedly hidden beneath a stone frog and the girls have to jump in through a window). Throughout the novel the house heaves and sighs as if alive, as if its walls and ceilings were pressing upon its new inhabitants. The house also has a habit of hijacking the thoughts of the characters.  In one of the novel’s many surreal moments, July sees a bird force itself out of one of the house’s walls.  Sheela, the mother, finds parallels between herself and the cottage:

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… There are so many noises she cannot sleep. In the night, mostly, thumps and thundering, the sound of many footsteps, the crash of windows opening and closing, the crash of windows opening and closing, sudden explosions which sound like shouting… At times, awoken in the darkness, she things again about how that house is, more than any other, a body.

There are other horror tropes aplenty.  For much of the novel, the first person narrator is July.  It soon becomes clear that she has an unhealthily close relationship with her sister September, who is just ten months older than she is.  They are inseparable in a manner which is at times touching and loving, but more often, than not, disturbing.  The disorientating thought processes of July are challenging to follow, but suggest that she is in thrall to September, who has the stronger character of the two and a violent streak to go with it.  We also realise that the family is blighted by mental health problems, violence and abuse.    There are certain chapters of the novel which are presented in the third person from Sheela’s perspective.  The narrative in these segments is clearer, and solves some of the many questions raised by July’s account.  However, the mother’s explanations only serve to confirm the past episodes of rage and abuse which still cast a shadow over the family.  The feeling of dread and terror is ever present.  More importantly, the novel is underpinned by that niggling doubt which often characterises the best Gothic tales – is there any truth to the novel’s apparently supernatural or fantastical elements?

What is brilliant about Sisters is the way in which Johnson combines striking images and poetic language with horror and thriller elements to convey the ramblings of disturbed teenage minds.  What is less impressive is the plot and the way it is handled.  As the novel progresses, one cannot help suspecting that the author is holding back key details, in order to build up to a Night-Shyamalan-like twist and which does, eventually, arrive (that is why most reviews of the novel are peppered with *spoiler alerts*).  Yet, the twist is underwhelming and not really worth the contrivances leading to the final revelation.

So, do read Sisters for the insightful characterizations, the great writing and for its original use of genre tropes.   However, if its page-turning plots you're after, there are plenty of psychological thrillers that are probably better at providing thrills and chills.

Kindle Edition, 192 pages

Expected publication: July 2nd 2020 by Vintage Digital