Sisters

Sisters is the story of four young women coming of age on a rural property in northern Victoria. But it is also the story of Guthrie Carey a young sailor whose life crosses paths with the sisters at various points. The perils and pitfalls of love and marriage dominate the story. It would seem that Cambridge had a pretty cynical view and very low expectations for happiness within the confines of marriage. We have an unhappy marriage with a power imbalance a domestic goddess whose life is taken up with child bearing and child rearing an adulteress a nursemaid a man still in love with his former wifes ghost and a lonely old man dreaming of a love that will never be! If Sisters is a good representation of her work Ill definitely look for more. She doesnt write as broadly or deeply as Henry Handel Richardson but she does take on womens concerns and class consciousness in a period when this wasnt really the thing to do in writing. The conversation and descriptions in Sisters are fantastic. Particularly well-developed characters like Debbie and Carey will stay with me for a very long time.