Sisters by a River (Virago Modern Classics) - Softcover

Barbara Comyns

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140161678 ISBN 13: 9780140161670

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1987

Synopsis

On the banks of the River Avon, five sisters are born. The seasons come and go, the girls take their lessons under the ash tree, and always there is the sound of water swirling through the weir. Then, unexpectedly, an air of decay descends upon the house: ivy grows unchecked over the windows, angry shouts split the summer air, the milk sours in the larder and their father takes out his gun. Tragedy strikes the family, and before long the furniture is being auctioned off and the sisters dispersed among relatives. In her daring first novel, originally published in 1947, Barbara Comyns' unique young heroine relates the vivid, funny and bittersweet story of a childhood.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Comyns (1909-92) was born in Bidford-on-Avon in Warwickshire. She was an artist and writer, worked in advertising, dealt in old cars and antiques, bred poodles and developed property. She was twice married, and she and her second husband lived in Spain for eighteen years, returning to the UK in the early 1970s. She is the author of eleven books, including Sisters by a River (1947), Our Spoons Came from Woolworths (1950), The Vet's Daughter (1959), The Skin Chairs (1962) and A Touch of Mistletoe (1967). She died in Shropshire in 1992

Review

The characters seem to exist in a perpetual Mad Hatter's tea-party KATE SAUNDERS An off-beat humour GRAHAM GREENE All of her books read as if she wrote them effortlessly URSULA HOLDEN

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140161678
• ISBN 13: 9780140161670
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160