From a style point of view I wouldn’t have bought this had I realised it was first person with three viewpoints. I usually prefer first person books to tell the story through a single character. Here we’re told the story of two half-sisters: Helen and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, I disliked Elizabeth from page 6 when her thoughts dismiss a homeless person the moment she walks into Waitrose. My opinion of Helen didn’t get much better despite her less than perfect parents. She’s born into a privileged position she seems to moan about more than take advantage of, although the reasons are clear by the end of the book. Instead of choosing to do something with her life she makes finding Elizabeth her mission—not terrible except that her motivation is for all the wrong reasons. Neither sister seems to deserve much interest though both could carry the mantle of ‘victim of circumstances’. I’m loathed to review this book because though the writing didn’t engage me, there’s nothing wrong with it, and all the plotting elements are carefully constructed. I failed to identify a protagonist I could root for, and there, for me, the book isn’t one to find a permanent place on my bookshelves. Made me think of ‘Gone Girl’ if that’s any help. I could see this as a made-for TV movie or 6-part series, though for me it was a frustrating read. ( )

I’ve read novels by Emily Barr in the past and always enjoyed them. However, it had been a few years since I’d tried one, so when I picked The Sisterhood off my shelf (where it had been languishing for SEVEN years!) I wasn’t sure whether I’d like it – after all, tastes change and I know that mine have. My fear was unfounded however – after a slow start due to my own time constraints, I rattled through this book and found it hard to put down. Without giving too much away, the premise is as follows:

London: Liz Greene’s relationship has just fallen apart in a horrible and irrevocable manner. Depressed and lonely she has a one night stand and becomes pregnant.

Bordeaux: Helen Labenne and her brother Tom have just discovered that their mother had a child years before they were born. Bored with her privileged lifestyle, Helen decides to go to London to track down her sister Elizabeth Greene…

The book may start off in almost a chick-lit style, but it becomes apparent early on (and should already be apparent to anyone who has read Emily Barr before) that this is a much darker story, with sinister undertones and plenty of tension. It’s clear from the beginning that Helen has some issues, and an unconventional way of looking at things, but as she begins to insinuate herself more and more into Liz’s life, it gets twistier and creepier.

Unfortunately I can’t say much more without giving away spoilers, and spoilers can really ruin a book like this. However, I can say that the book is told from both Helen and Liz’s points of view – they take alternating chapters – and later, Helen’s mother Mary also narrates some ‘flashback’ chapters.

As the story builds to its climax, there are some huge twists – including one which I definitely saw coming, and one which I most definitely did not!

Overall, a very enjoyable read and one I would recommend to fans of psychological thrillers. My only niggling complaint is that the prologue does kind of give something away unnecessarily, but other than that I liked this book a lot. ( )

You shouldn't mistake Sisterhood for light entertainment - its quite dark and disturbing.While I liked the book, I found that I failed to much like or empathise with either Helen or Liz - they are both too flawed to be very likeable and I have found this in other novels by Barr. She creates characters that are unbalanced in that they have few redeeming qualities to offset the flaws. This means I often find reading her novels uncomfortable because i want to like the main protaganist more than I do. ( )

Definitely Barr's best book so far. I thought her last two efforts were poor. I struggled through 'Out of my depth', but The Sisterhood was great. I was gripped from the start. Great characters, dark undertones, and surprising twists and turns. Also, unlike a lot of Barr's other work, this one didn't have a rushed, disappointing ending. It would make a great movie! ( )

Not one of Emily's finest.
Helene is half French, half English and in her mid-20's. She finds evidence of her mother having another child that she gave up for adoption years before. Helene decides she needs to find her and bring her back to her mother to "complete' the family.
Meh, Helene was annoying and really got on my nerves.
Prefer Emily's earlier novels. ( )