Absolutely loved this book!!! Would wholeheartedly recommend to all of my friends, and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

A deep and dark and beautifully written book about two sisters, July and September, born just ten months apart and sharing a deep emotional bond. After an incident at the girls' school, they move away with their mother Sheela to an old family home near the sea. The house is decrepit, falling down, and as the days pass and girls become more entwined in each other, edges become blurred and boundaries shift. It's poetically written, but not flowery. The imagery stays with you for a long time. A really powerful piece of writing.

A push and pull between sisters July and September, it's a web so wrapped up it's tough to say where one sister ends and the other begins as they make their way through life. I <I>loved</i> Fen, and Daisy Johnson is a magnificent writer, but I've never been able to gel with her longer work quite like I did her short stories. But that's just me. There's a darkness and beauty in here.

I’ve loved all of Daisy Johnson’s works so far which makes her a favourite author of mine. Her latest, Sisters, is suffocating and claustrophobic. It was a horror house that I wanted to flee from, but could not look away. Just not yet. They say curiosity killed the cat and yes, this book nearly killed me.

In Sisters, we follow two sisters (no surprise there) born ten months apart, who are almost like twin souls. They move to a house that is ‘dirtyallover ‘and ‘bentoutofshape’—as creepy as it can get, because the house has a mind of its own with its gargles and groans. The bond between the girls is more noxious than sisterly. On one hand the elder sister takes care of the younger in a motherly fashion—providing food, washing her up—but there’s a kind-of Simon Says game where you have to obey everything the leader says. Johnson’s prowess as an inventive and skilled writer shines through the novel—Bulb clickclick(s), blood goes boom boom boom and movement is judder judder judder. You’ll find yourself longing to look away, but then you just can’t.

Two sisters July and September have an unusually strong bond. July is very much manipulated by her sister and you know this will not end well. Their mother has mental health issues and seems to be mostly absent, and the girls are somewhat feral. They don't have other friends and July is bullied at school. I found the book a bit disturbing although it does keep you reading!

I have been a big fan of Daisy Johnson since the release of her short story collection Fen in 2016. Her debut novel Everything Under was released in 2018 and earned a Man Booker nomination, making her the youngest author (at just 28) to be shortlisted for the prestigious literary prize. Unsurprisingly, Excitement has been high around her sophomore novel, Sisters, the family drama filling must-read lists in 2020 and Man Booker predictions.

The two sisters of this story, September and July, are inseparable; outsiders at school, and inaccessible to all. Following an ‘incident’ in Oxford, the two girls are uprooted by their mother, Sheela, to live in an old property owned by their aunt. Alone in the house, the sisters become almost one. September’s domineering and disruptive personality combines with July’s anxiety and submission to form a whole. The novel is primarily from July’s perspective, with brief passages in which Sheela reveals more about her own isolation through her battle with mental health and relationship with the girls’ father. July is enamored with September and, despite a clear desire to explore her individuality through her adolescent sexuality or relationship with her mother, the love for September is deeper than this (no matter how destructive it may be).

While in Everything Under the mythological canal and its murky depths provide a mysterious lurking presence, here it is the house, nestled among the Yorkshire moors, witness to the dramas, observing, dictating, and reflecting the action through whispers and cracks, hidden passageways and abandoned corners. The house, like its occupants, is inhabited by forces that are shaping it beyond normal belief.

Only in the closing chapters does the reader truly begin to understand what is going on, a shocking yet demystifying revelation that unifies the themes of the novel. To say any more would reveal too much of the mesmerising experience that unfolds.

At once a family drama, a Gothic, a literary suspense, with prose that is compelling and devastatingly honest, Sisters is another triumph for Johnson.

Sisters by Daisy Johnson is a dark, disturbing and unsettling tale of two sisters and their sometimes sweet but mostly twisted relationship. It is intense, creepy and thought-provoking.

July and September have a freakishly close bond; it is as if they are a single person. As sweet as it may sound, there actually is a twisted power dynamics underneath all the love and care.

Narrated mostly from the PoV of July and sometimes by Sheela (their mother), the plot sways back and forth in time, disoriented, off-putting and somewhat confusing. This is done deliberately on the part of the author, partly to create a eerie, vaguely discomfiting, somewhat trippy atmosphere, and partly to reflect the mental state of the narrator. The chapters from PoV of Sheela are starkly clear in contrast, and reveal some nuances of the relationship between July and September from their mother’s eyes.

Johnson does an excellent job at creating a gothic atmosphere. The setting – The Settle House, has all the elements of a gothic mansion. The stifling relationship between July and September is brought out beautifully in the prose. Though written from July’s perspective, it is evident that she almost houses both the personalities within her, as if they are one single being. The ending was sharp, shocking and truly nightmarish. I had to put off writing this review for a few days so I could write it coherently without being creeped out thinking about the book.

While there is an underlying mystery to the plot, the characters and their relationships with each other is the life of the book. The character of September is truly terrifying. Her dark and twisted personality and her overbearing and manipulative love for July is a reflection of the relationship between their parents. There is no doubt that September loves July with all her heart, but hers is a love I would not wish on the worst of my enemies. On the other hand, Sheela's opinion of her daughters and their relationship, and her own battle with depression, provides a humane and emotional relief to the story.

If you are looking for a chilling and spooky read with notes of gothic and horror to mess with your mind and leave you dazed, Sisters by Daisy Johnson is the perfect choice.

I did not get this book. Perhaps I will never get books about the sibling relationship.
Try as I might, this just isn't a bond that makes sense to me, the only child. And, maybe much more so in this book with the crazy/crazy-unhealthy sibling bond described.

That being said, I felt for July and for Sheela; they're emotional complex and have distinctive voices. I was definitely engaged in the book and wanted (badly) to get a handle on what was happening.

The prose is beautiful here, and if it was intended to keep the reader as off-balanced as the narrator - then it was <b>perfectly</b> done. I think July's naiveté and immaturity is also really well accomplished here.

I thought the book was coming together for me at the end, but the actual ending kind of turned - again - and left me very displeased and more confused than I'd have liked to have been.

This isn't a bad book, but it isn't one I enjoyed - for another reader though, I'm sure I can see how this will speak to some. My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the arc to review.

There is a suffocating atmosphere from the very start of this book, as Mother Sheela and daughters September and July are seen moving from an unspecified incident near their home in Oxford to a country house belonging to extended family.

Claustrophobic relationships and an increasing feeling of tension are explored and generate genuine horror as the story unfolds.

Dealing with fundamental questions of identity and family in vivid detail, the powerful narrative pulls you along, wide-eyed, all the way to a very unsettling conclusion.

A fascinating read, this is a book that holds onto you and forces you not to look away - fabulous.

At times claustrophobic and also scary, I found myself totally absorbed in Daisy Johnson's short novel, Sisters, and I can see why it is described a Gothic thriller. An intriguing and well written read, that has stayed with me.

A real chiller here that would definitely benefit from a second read. The atmosphere is at times suffocating and bewildering, setting the tone nicely. It is essentially a coming of age story against the background of significant trauma and psychological turmoil and at times it's unsure what's real or imagined. A really spooky tale that will stay with you.

Sisters is the new novel from Daisy Johnson, the Booker shortlisted author of Everything Under. It is an eerily beautiful Gothic novel about family bonds, and in particular the strong sibling connection between sisters September and July. Johnson encapsulates so much in this slim novel; it is a family drama, a coming of age novel, and a steady, quiet Gothic thriller.

There is a secret running under the plot from the very beginning of the novel, when the sisters and their mother Sheela retreat from Oxford to an old, run-down family house in the countryside. We are warned that something is not quite right through references to a significant event in the recent past, and constantly further unsettled by the wild and rugged landscape: the danger and pull of the ocean and the dusty, old country house.

September and July have a strong sisterly bond, that is full of love and sustains them both. But there is something suffocating about the siblings' bond too. Although they are close in age, there is a distinct power dynamic to their relationship, and tinges of jealousy and anger bubble under the surface. The sisters' bond runs deep, powerfully and dangerously driving the novel forward.
There is something so unbelievably captivating about Johnson's writing style. It is beautiful, understated and completely draws you in, but yet is discomforting and unsettling at the same time. The plot constantly threatens to over-spill in unpredictable directions, but Johnson's careful and atmospheric prose reassures you that you are being guided through this novel in the hands of a master.

Sisters opens with a return to an old house owned and rented out by an aunt. The family only seem to go to this house when something is wrong, when they need to retreat from the world and something significant did happen in March, in Oxford. We’re just not sure what.

As the narrative progresses we feel a growing sense of unease. September, the older sister, is manipulative, just like her father had been. He died long ago but he was born in this house and his presence remains, lingering in the sight of his abandoned binoculars.

September is obsessive, protective, violent. It is she who forces her mother to give them one shared birthday, to treat them as twins, though they were born ten months apart. It is September who does the speaking and the deciding for her younger sister, July; she who measures out July’s affections, keeping July to herself, keeping July from her mother.

The house is near a beach. In the middle of nowhere. The internet is slow. Their mother stays in her room, appears only briefly, often late at night. It is easy to visit the beach, to discover other teenagers escaping onto the sand as the days grow longer.

Sisters, while an entirely new story for Daisy Johnson, has a lucid connection to nature and an approach to storytelling that feels very much her own; the narrators – I’m being deliberately illusive – offer us an incomplete picture, keeping facts from us and themselves in ways that encroach upon the reader, chipping away at our trust in them, causing us to guess and grasp at possible interpretations of the unfolding story in ways that keep us tethered to the plot, keen to find out about what happened to these near-twinned sisters, keen to find out what they did.

To say more would certainly spoil the plot, which is gripping, engrossing and grown in a bed of violent, passionate love that tears into relationships, opens the way for depression, anxiety and creativity and leaves a fearful muddle with little room for compassion, calm or contentment. Sisters is a thrilling and expertly-crafted ride. Out this coming August, I’d definitely put it on your wish list.

excellent, short novel by Daisy Johnson, which i found to be much more enjoyable than either of her previous 2 books. There are a couple of pretty gruesome scenes in the book so be warned and it turns out to be all too easy to give away the ending so I will avoid any discussion about that aspect. and recommend it to anyone who likes good storng literary fiction with a hint of the other-worldy to it.

Read in the heat of summer, this book is like a fever dream. It’s easy to get lost in Johnson’s prose and the relationship between September and July. Intriguing and engaging.

Sisters follows the story of July and September. There are, of course, other people in this take but in each others lives these people are mere distractions. It is a relationship that is so intense there is little room for others.

The story surrounds the girls and their mother trying to overcome an incident which happened to them in Oxford, the details of which are revealed to us like a dripping tap throughout the novel

This book is everything I want in a book. Brilliantly written prose, characters that are so life like and well described that you think you can understand how they will act and think, only to then surprise you in a way that is just so life like. I would agree it is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson as the tale is both all encompassing and perfectly sparse. Achingly beautiful and chilling in equal measure, it is a tale that will live on in my heart and my dreams for a very long time.

Dark and dismal, not uplifting or entertaining at all. Not a book to be read if you are feeling low or in need of cheering up at all. Horrible damaged people, from the first chapter you know it’s miserable. I really did not like it, I made myself read it all the way to the finish just to see if there may be a glimmer of lightness.. I did not find any.

‘Sisters’ by Daisy Johnson tells the story of July and September, two sisters who with their mother (Sheena) have moved to the Settle House to get a fresh start. We don’t know why they need a fresh start, beyond that something happened at the tennis courts at school.

Throughout this novel, September and July’s relationship is explored. They are so entwined that they no longer have separate birthdays, but instead July celebrates hers on the same day as Septembers. They play a game called September says, where July is compelled to undertake more and more dangerous challenges. September is presented as strong, dominant and dangerous. July appears unformed, anxious and easily led. Their mother seems absent, either pushed out or unable to look after them. The Settle house as a nightmarish quality, with walls that seem to move, flickering lights and noises in the night.

I enjoyed Johnson’s writing and the way in which the two sisters relationship develops. I was drawn to July, and the way in which she is tricked and bullied by children at school.. I also wanted to know more about Sheena and the girl’s dead and abusive father. However, whilst the end of the novel is clever it is not necessarily satisfying, and at times it was a hard read due to its intensity and the constant sense of uncertainty that Johnson carefully conveyed.

Daisy Johnson is a wonderful writer - her sentences are so perfectly formed that you can enjoy the book on that basis alone. Fortunately, the book is also full of great moments, a rich plot, and terrific characters. Read this now.

Two sisters, born ten-months-apart and with one favouring the mother and the other the father in looks. In every other way they are twins, with September, the bossy elder, demanding the younger July share Birthdays, clothes, a bed, a language, and their every thought. One is feared and the other is ridiculed. But not for much longer…

Sisters was a tale every bit as unsettling and eerie as the cover image. It was a bizarre and twisted story that ensured the reader was forever unaware of what was really occurring and what was a strange fever-dream-blend of reality and nightmare.

My issue with it stemmed from me guessing at the concluding twist early on in the narrative, as it is one I have encountered multiple times before, where sisters form the nexus of the narrative. All novels are, to some extent, an amalgamation of what came before but here, unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to separate this particular novel from its similar ancestors.

I did, however, find this a trippy and disturbing read, especially with the inclusion of Gothic elements, and the open-ended conclusion that appealed to me and suited the unsettling tone that featured throughout.