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Two Sisters
- Narrated by: Blake Morrison
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
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Two Sisters
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Summary
'Tender, vivid and achingly sad' GUARDIAN, BOOK OF THE YEAR
TWO SISTERS publishes on the 30th anniversary of Blake Morrison’s ground-breaking book And When Did You Last See Your Father? which forged the way for a new genre of confessional memoir.
‘She’s gone, that’s all, and though there’s no retrieving her I’d like to make sense of who she was and what she became. It wasn’t just that she changed over time. She could change from day to day. Drink made it worse but the origins went deeper. You never knew which you’d get, the kind and loving Gill or her doppelgänger. Two sisters.’
Blake Morrison has lost a sister and a half-sister in recent years. Both are the subjects of this remarkable and heart-breaking memoir, along with a forensic examination of sibling relationships in history and literature.
Blake’s sister Gill struggled with alcoholism for a large part of her life, and her shocking death is the starting point for Two Sisters. Blake returns to their childhood to search for the origins of her later difficulties, and in doing so unearths the story behind his half-sister, Josie.
As he unravels these narratives, Blake deals movingly in the guilt and shame that will be familiar to every person who has struggled with addiction in their family. He is unflinching in doing so, and the result is a book which provides testament to that common struggle, as well as acknowledging the complex, hidden forces on which all our lives are based.
Two Sisters is the extraordinary new memoir from the chronicler of human frailty, Blake Morrison.
Poems from Skin and Blister are featured by kind permission of Mariscat Press.
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Critic reviews
"A book at once bold, magnanimous, heart-breaking and riveting…" (Howard Jacobson)
"Beautiful. Affecting. Erudite." (Susie Orbach)
What listeners say about Two Sisters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- pjw
- 09-04-23
Touching stories of the sisters.
Having read both books about his parents I was intrigued to follow the thread about Josie and particularly the effects of Gill's drinking on those close to Gill.
Both accounts were stark yet in the main sensitive.
I could have done without the literary fillers. Slightly smacked of smugly showing off the depth of the author's knowledge of many other authors.
In fairness the introduction does state the mix to be found in the book.
Similar to the two memoirs about his parents I feel the author reveals too much detail that is not his story to tell.
That said,
I was captivated by his account of his mother's working life and , as someone raised as a Roman Catholic, the sectarianism she was subjected to.in her personal.life.
Gill's relationship with alcohol resonated with what I similarly witnessed at close hand. I found this part of the book really helpful.
.A mixed review, but then the book was a mix of memoir and literary critique.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 25-06-23
Siblings in literature
A sad family tale. But a very interesting walk through how sibling relationships are covered in literature. Intriguing details as to what might set off trails of self destruction. Read from the perspective of someone who wants to delve into her own family goings on (that’s me), it gave food for thought.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Interested
- 12-03-23
Thoroughly unpleasant
The author asks, ‘How to balance respect with honesty?’ then treats his dead sister without respect. He acknowledges that it will upset his sister’s children to read it - indeed I am upset by the image of his sister dying kneeling on the floor, squashed between bed and radiator. There are no insights which would have made this book worth it.
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