Book - The Alphabet Sisters

Ok this is an AMAZING book!!!!

Full of ups & down, laughs & tears!

Loved it!!!!! Its about family & relationships - I could identify with this book.

Lola the grandmother is such a card and if you have a sister I am sure you will be able to relate.

Totally worth the read!




Monica McInerney's new book is something of a departure for her. Her previous three novels were romantic comedies; in The Alphabet Sisters, McInerney sharpens her exploration of contemporary women and their relationships.

We are introduced to three sisters: Bett, short for Elizabeth, Quinlan is a London-based journalist in a record company; Anna works in television commercials in Sydney; and Carrie lives in the Clare Valley. Carrie folds serviettes at the Valley View Motel, run by the sisters' parents. We soon realise Carrie is an outcast after running off with Bett's former fiance.

This caused a deep division between the sisters and they have not spoken for years. Into this silence comes Lola Quinlan, their grandmother. Lola divides her time between the motel and working in a charity shop. We soon grasp that Lola is no meek octogenarian.

Lola decides to bring the three sisters together and announces she is going to throw herself a big, belated 80th birthday party. It is to be a reunion of sorts of the Alphabet Sisters.

Lola's granddaughters reluctantly agree. The problem is that Lola is proprietorial about the girls. She believes that she, and she alone, has created their collective identity as the Alphabet Sisters and in some part, their individual identities as well.

McInerney confidently establishes the background details of the three sisters, providing mini portraits of each so we gain a clear understanding of their vulnerabilities and hopes. Lola is altogether something else; McInerney demonstrates a fine sense of the insecurities of age and how families can become possessive of achievement.

There is something forlorn about Lola living on the memories of the Alphabet Sisters. But this is not purely based in nostalgia. Lola remains a woman of ambitions, who prides herself on fostering the independent spirits of her granddaughters. She has fundamentally shaped them. As they were growing up, Lola had "discovered that three strong-minded, intelligent little girls needed more than dolls and puzzle books to stimulate them".

Although we are drawn into the lives of the sisters as adults, our attention is deflected onto Lola. Turning 80 "had hit her with a terrible shock".

But as much as we may view Lola with poignancy, if not pity, this is a momentary indulgence. We soon realise that the purpose of getting the Alphabet Sisters together again was so they could perform a musical Lola had written. The descriptions of the sisters' reactions to this announcement reveal McInerney's comic imagination.

Even so, this warmly infusing story is not without its chill of grief. Just as the girls agree to perform publicly once more as the Alphabet Sisters, the family is plunged into tragedy. Still, we believe what has been established through the reunion will endure.

The Maeve Binchyish empathy McInerney shows for the changes and chances of family life draws us into this gentle and life-affirming story. We come away feeling better about the world and, maybe, just a little more tender towards those close to us. (Fairfax Digital).

- Posted by Jazz's iPhone