Dimensions
165 x 240 x 40mm
As one of three sisters herself, Penelope Farmer sets her exploration of sisterhood in an autobiographical framework, describing loving and not so loving sisters in the past and present generations on all sides of her family. With the help of writers in many fields and over many centuries, she guides us through the peaks and troughs of sisterly life, both between sisters and between sisters and brothers - from childhood, separation, love, marriage and parenthood, to old age and death itself. Farmer looks at famous literary sisters, theatrical and musical ones, well-known fictional sisters, and many not so well-known. We observe the sisterly bonds of bees, lions, elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees, and are asked to reflect on the nature of sisterhood itself. Through poetry, prose, autobiography, memoir, science and anthropology, Farmer pieces together the world of sisterhood. She creates a rich tapestry of evocative and often moving writing that will find echoes in the experience of all who have or are sisters, or even just those who would like to have had them.
