Out & About Autumn 2021

Out&About leisure

BOOKS

Whether it’s searching for an identity or underlining the bond of family, GERALDINE GARDNER recommends some books with very different takes on siblings – most especially sisters, and in two instances twins – that explore both their desire to break away and their inevitable reliance on each other.

Twins Desiree and Stella Vignes are born and raised in Mallard, Louisiana, a fictional town habituated by fair-skinned African Americans, who neither accept that they are Negroes nor fit into the white American dream. Aged 16, the sisters escape their home town, determined to make it in the big wide world. Their paths abruptly separate when Stella does a disappearing act and Desiree is left to cope on her own. Fast forward 10 years and Desiree returns to her home town, with her daughter Jude in tow, to escape an abusive husband. Stella meanwhile is living like a ‘white person’. She has married well and lives in a privileged area of Los Angeles. When a black family move into And so we return to twin sisters, although in this case their bond is palpable from the start. Although they are chalk and cheese, the misfit Augusta relies heavily on her more sensible and socially acceptable twin Julia (they were born either side of midnight on July 31 and August 1 hence the names). Augusta dreams of a life outside their cosy cul de sac where her parents exist in their own 1050s idyll. Julia on the other hand is happy where she is.

Desiree’s daughter Jude, are constantly striving to be comfortable with who they are and in Kennedy’s case in particular understand why her mother is the way she is. Jude’s boyfriend Reese has his own secrets and Desiree’s partner Early is as dark as she is light, but despite his flighty existence is one of the most reliable characters and Desiree’s rock. Bennett’s writing is fierce and unforgiving in its portrayal of the conflict which defines Stella’s existence and the book explores racism and acceptance of who we are through two generations of women and neither offers a trite solution nor sensationalises an issue that lies at the heart of all our beings – who we really are and feeling comfortable in our own skins. whose name delights Augusta, to whom the sound of words are very mportant. Both Augusta and Parfait experience their own kind of tragedies in their very different worlds and there is an inevitable ‘fate’ about their two worlds colliding, but what carries the story is how, why and when this will happen. Augusta is a fascinating character. Aware of her own flaws, desperately looking for her safe place, her destiny and getting there in the most tragic yet uplifting of ways. i

her neighbourhood she is as aghast as her neighbours, but inevitably finds herself drawn to them because she is an outsider at heart herself and is in turn horrified at her own ‘racist’ reactions to them. And the central theme of the book – the struggle of covering up identity – is continued with the next generation. Both Stella’s daughter Kennedy and

Sisters Mickey and Kacey used to be inseparable, but they have followed very different paths. Mickey is a policewoman on the beat in Kensington, a working class area in northeast Philadelphia, but her sister Kacey is a drug addict who gets by as a sex worker. Kacey disappears at about the same time that there are a string of murders, which means Mickey worries that her sister may be next. Long Bright River is a thriller, but it is also the story of family loyalties and the ties that bind us no matter how diverse the paths that we take. It also highlights how vulnerable women are in a male-dominated society, but also how strong they can be and fiercely loyal. Mickey is conflicted as she tries to balance her job and raising her son with looking out for her wayward sister who is by turns both frustrating and surprisingly perceptive. The two are reliant on each other in their different ways and their bond makes for a powerful weapon against some dark forces.

Running parallel to this story is that of Parfait, who is growing up in war torn Burundi – a country

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